Shadowdance
by Rosabell
Summary: Syaoran's father is a Shadowmaster, and Chul's encountered them before and knows what they can do. He fears for Syaoran's safety and soul and will do anything to protect his young charge. Meanwhile, Syaoran learns there is more to Chul than he realized, b
1. Prologue

Shadowdance

Prologue

_He was so handsome. Chul felt an overwhelming despair when he looked at the young man in front of him. Clad in white, Syaoran looked like a vengeful angel. Such power and beauty, but the eyes, the amber eyes were filled with mad hatred and sinister delight. The handsome mouth turned up in an ugly smirk._

_" Abuji," Syaoran called, his voice laced with dark sarcasm, " You are looking well."_

_Chul felt something inside him shatter as he raised his own sword. His mind traveled back to the days when the boy was still young, and Chul had practiced with him the art of sword fighting. That time the child had been so tiny, so young and precious. His heart ached when he looked upon the man before him, so tall and grown and filled with hate. What happened? What had gone wrong? What had he done wrong?_

_" You can still stop this, Li Xiaolang." Chul said to the young man stoically, even as his heart turned in anguish._

_" So cold." Syaoran sneered again. " I suppose one cannot expect less of the Water Lord. But I know you. I know you too well. You hide your pathetic thoughts behind that mask." He raised his hand. " How about it, Abuji. A duel to the death. After all, you can never be sure I am stopped unless I am dead at your feet."_

_Agony laced through him, emotional agony, the fear of letting his son win, the even greater fear of defeating him. There must still be a way to save Syaoran from this darkness. There must be another way so that Chul would not have to kill his own son. He could not kill Syaoran, but he had to. Chul wanted to weep._

_But his son was dead. Long long ago. Something happened to allow this monster to take his place. Was Syaoran really dead though? Could there be some trace of him left?_

_They fought. Syaoran was a whirlwind of energy, Chul was a vortex of hot and cold. Syaoran had the brute strength of magic behind his artful swordsmanship, but Chul had the experience and strategy. Every clash made Chul feel remorse, regret. It had been clashes of a different form that led to this. It was all his fault, all his fault—_

_And suddenly Syaoran lost. The blade pierced slightly into his neck, only skin-deep, leaving a thin trail of blood. Chul held the blade steady, careful not to shake. Shaking meant losing his grip. Syaoran was on his knees, his white robes ripped and torn at the collar, but still so magnificent, even when humbled. The air around them crackled with doom, and Syaoran held his gaze, eyes defiant, with that horrid smirk on his face._

_" Go ahead." The young man taunted. " The great Water Lord never hesitated before. What is another child?"_

_This time Chul's hand did shake. He must. He must kill Syaoran. Syaoran had to die. There was no turning back now. If he let Syaoran go, Syaoran will kill. The world will descend farther into turmoil, this time with no hope of recovery._

_He stabbed, while his heart screamed—_

Chul woke with a start. Syaoran stirred next to him, but settled again. The child's body was warm against his, alive and safe. Chul took a deep breath and sighed.

He had kept Syaoran by his side, even at night, and Syaoran had not complained. The first night Syaoran had nightmares, soft ones that had him whimpering in distress but not really screaming as Chul had almost done. He had been calling for his mother and trying to get her to wait for him. Chul had sent healing water, which comforted the child enough that Syaoran afterwards seemed to almost prefer staying with Chul. The child's own moon magic was a comfort to Chul as well, calm and soothing, helping with his own problems at night.

The Water Lord ran his fingers through his sweat-drenched hair. The despair was receding, but still eating at his heart. Relief flooded through him when he realized it was just a nightmare, that Syaoran was still small and safe and well and his. Well not his but, at least not that.

He dared not hug the boy, but snuggled so that Syaoran cuddled next to him. He listened to Syaoran's breathing, which was deep, nearing a snore. The boy was exhausted. Usually Syaoran was a lighter sleeper, perhaps because of his childhood training. Tonight he did not even wake when Chul was in the throes of his nightmare. Either Chul was masking his aura too well, or the child was too deeply asleep to sense it.

Chul shut his eyes. Syaoran was a good child, so good, but the danger in the dream was real. As thunderspeaker Syaoran would literally have no enemies once he is trained enough. He could do whatever he wanted. And the Shadowmasters will make sure to use that to advantage of that. It was what they excelled at.

But Syaoran did not have that hate. And Chul silently vowed to give Syaoran all the love he could want, so that he would never know it. He reached out and smoothed the boy's hair. The boy did not stir again.

Chul closed his eyes.

oO

In celebration of their newest member, the waterspeakers decided to take Syaoran to the beach. The waterspeakers were not actually on any physical location in either one of the Koreas. It was simply necessary to use the gate in South Korea near Incheon. The gate was opened fairly easily by any magician, but is fairly obscure to non-magical beings. So far, in all the years of its existence, the waterspeakers only had four humans pass through unknowingly and millions of insects, birds, and squirrels, occasionally rabbits and and snakes, so the gate was never guarded. The area the waterspeaker village itself was located was like another Korea on a different dimension, with the North and South sides merged because magicians had no problems with capitalism or communism. Therefore, the land, the weather, the general design was still very much normal Korea, and some waterspeaker children even go to school in South Korea. And apparently, Korea was not hot enough during the summer for waterspeakers to really enjoy swimming, because they chose the Caribbean as the hangout spot.

Syaoran, still shy, though it came out as being rather moody, was not really inclined to wear swimming shorts and nothing else while surrounded by comparatively proud and loud waterspeakers. It further discouraged him when Chul was also not inclined to degrade himself that way. Syaoran therefore settled with a normal t-shirt and shorts, which was just as well because as much of a swimmer as he was, he could not hope to compete with the fish-like or dolphin-like stunts that the waterspeaker children were pulling.

He had felt distinctly out of place from the start, but he felt even more like a misfit now. Not only was he not Korean like most of them, he was a thunderspeaker, the only one of his kind. And while this might have earned him some merit he was still rather lonely, with only Chul to confide in, and Chul, despite his warmer nature, was not the easiest person to bother at a whim. The mishap in Tomoeda still disturbed him, and Chul's constant guard, to the point where he kept Syaoran by his side even at night, did nothing to dispel that.

Chul's constant guard did alleviate one of Syaoran's fears completely. The Water Lord was willing to do anything to keep the boy safe, and this time he even did it without complaining. Syaoran doubted that even if Chul knew he had to keep an eye on Syaoran at all times, the waterspeaker would have allowed Syaoran to sleep by his side at nights had there not been genuine affection. It was the ultimate protection, but also as close to the ultimate violation of privacy as one gets.

One of the girls brought the boy out of his musings. She was waving to him, calling for him to join the group.

" Come on," Ritsuko was in a swimsuit. Actually, Chul was dressed in casual clothes as well, but somehow he still managed to look regal. " Why don't you go into the water. Maybe they can help you go faster, you never know." She winked.

Syaoran reluctantly allowed himself to be convinced. The water was beautiful, the beach white and the sea a turquoise blue and many types of fish swimming near the shore. The sun was bright, and Syaoran could vaguely remember the feeling of light, when he had been among them, shining down into the depths of the Caribbean. Now though, the sunlight was more invigorating than harmful as it might be to the others.

He dove in.

The waters were slightly colder than the outside, at first, but quickly grew warm. He felt the presence of other waterspeakers pushing him deeper and marveled at how fast he was going now. He did not even have to move, since they were pushing him. The dolphins were a little further away, and they pushed him to them because the dolphins were fun creatures, intelligent and inquisitive and friendly. They knew him, strangely enough, and brushed him as they passed around him. He has met them before, as light, and dolphins are sensitive beings.

He smiled. The water felt cool to his teeth. The dolphins hovered in front of him and nodded exuberantly, opening their mouths in a wide grin and clicking and making loud whistling noises. One of them even brought him a clam, still alive and whole. He accepted.

Above the water at the beach Chul sat down next to Matt.

" Something bugging you?" Matt asked. He cursed at the sand. " So much of it. Gets into my eyes."

" I had a dream."

" What dream?"

" I had to kill Syaoran."

Matt tossed at the sand. He blew at it. " Jesus." He muttered. " Well, that's not really surprising."

Angry, Chul glared. " What's that supposed to mean?"

" It's a possibility we were all facing." Matt pointed out. " Kid's freaking family dies in one go, plus he gets chased by a bunch of firespeakers. If he were anyone else going insane would be relatively harmless, but as thunderspeaker there's no way to contain him."

" That's a lot of help. Thanks a lot."

" Well I'm just saying." Matt kicked at the sand, cursing the sand again.

" You do that you'll just get more all over yourself." Chul snapped.

" Yeah, well," Matt shrugged. " In any case you were aware of it too. Just take the steps to prevent it, that's all. You and the kid are already developing a bond."

Chul sighed. " I don't know. He still seems very uncomfortable with me."

" I heard that's kind of how he usually was. Takes a lot of comfort to sleep with someone like you. Jesus, you and your magical twitches. I'm surprised the kid isn't dead on his feet."

Chul glanced at Matt thoughtfully. " I haven't been having those."

" Hm. Really?"

" Yeah. He gives me moon magic too, from his sorcerer blood."

" Ah. Good kid. He's a nice kid. Heard from Nakuru that he's the type that makes you want to avoid him but secretly does nice things that completely overweighs anything out of his mouth. That's what Eriol said, anyway. He knows how to be considerate through actions, anyway."

" He's a good kid." Chul agreed.

Matt cursed the sand again. " You seem to take this dream very seriously for some reason."

" It didn't feel like a mere dream."

" You think it's a premonition?"

" I'm hoping it's not."

" Well, what was happening in the dream?"

Chul paused. " He was taunting me. He was a lot older. I think he might be taller than I am."

Matt whistled. " Good for the ladies. Taunting you? What was he saying?"

" He was telling me to kill him." Chul sighed. " He was inviting me to duel. To the death. Because he can't be stopped until he's dead."

" Sounds like paranoia." Matt quipped. " Anything else?"

" We fought." Chul said slowly, gazing out into the beautiful sea. " We fought, and I won, somehow. And he was kneeling before me and my sword was against his neck. He was telling me to kill him, because…he knew about the other children and…well…"

" Did you?"

" I was going to." Chul replied neutrally. " But I woke up just before I struck."

" Okay, still sounds like paranoia. What about the dream has you so worried?"

Chul paused. " The detail."

" Detail?"

" You know how premonitions are very detailed. They're just short." Chul replied. " It was like it was real. Everything was real. Syaoran was real…older, but real. He was wearing white robes to signify light. He had that white chou. He had this headdress on."

" Erm…okay…" Matt paused. " We don't usually get that many premonitions." He added, referring to elementals. Chul shook his head.

" I want to see a seer."

" You can, no one will stop you." Matt replied. " I know a good one. She's in Brazil. Don't know her name, but supposedly she's called the Blue Raven. Maybe when you get a chance you can take Syaoran there with you."

Chul hesitated. " I doubt Syaoran would appreciate the idea of me thinking of him as some evil maniac."

" She'll know to keep silent, I'm sure. After all, if she doesn't then she's not a good oracle."

" True." Chul suddenly froze. " Syaoran."

" What?"

The Water Lord got to his feet. " Something's wrong. Syaoran!"

oO

The dolphins bumped into him affectionately, clicking loudly so Syaoran's head almost hurt. He grabbed onto the dorsal fin of one which sped through the waters like a bullet, taking him along with it. It suddenly doubled back in a frenzy, whistling almost frantically. Afraid that he had hurt it or offended it somehow, Syaoran let go.

Behind him a shadow loomed in the otherwise clear waters. Syaoran saw it and realized his mistake. The waterspeaker children knew not to push him out of Chul's sight, but the dolphins did not. Then again, he had no idea that the dolphin would take him on a short trip to the deeper sea.

The dolphin had come back, and this time Syaoran realized it wanted him to grab on again. Syaoran did so, but the shadow surrounded them like a school of fish. The dolphin went up and made to leap out of the water, but Syaoran lost his hold on its slippery fin. Falling into the shadow, he felt it entangle around him, its touch cold and slimy.

_Syaoran,_ He heard his father's voice call, _My son…_

Syaoran was not easily fooled. Though he did long for his father, he was not so gullible as to instantly forget the years of neglect, or that one day when his father acted so cruel. He used his moon magic, but that was nothing against this shadow.

_Come with me, my son,_ His father's voice beckoned, _All shall be well…_

Syaoran was quickly losing air. The blackness surrounded him and he could not tell which direction was up. Though the shadow itself did nothing to contain him, Syaoran was lost in it. Normally he would just let his body float, but that seemed to take forever to reach the surface. He let out a bit of breath and struggled frantically. It really should not be that hard to tell which direction was up! And where was that dolphin?

Suddenly, something plunged into the shadow. He was suddenly moving, being propelled, and the shadow dissipated to reveal light, the beach not too far away. Syaoran choked and Chul grabbed him. They shot out of the water.

Matt cursed as Chul checked Syaoran over. Syaoran felt like all his energy had been sucked out somehow and lay on the beach towel while his guardian did so.

" He wasn't even that far away," One of the children exclaimed fearfully, " The dolphin just shot off but he wasn't that far."

" No, he wasn't." Chul replied neutrally. " Syaoran, Syaoran can you talk?"

He was touching Syaoran's hand, which meant Chul knew Syaoran was feeling almost nauseous by now. Syaoran tried to speak, but that only brought a new wave of nausea.

" Too close." Matt continued cursing. " That was too close."

One of the waterspeakers knelt down to try to heal him. " There's nothing wrong with him." He said. Ritsuko took her turn, examining him.

" It's some kind of influence." She said to Chul. " The shadow."

" He is light. It's not surprising." Chul replied. He looked at the boy and frowned. " Hang in there kid."

" Is he going to be alright?" A teen asked.

" Should be. We might as well go back. We know Lee is here." Chul sighed. " He has been keeping to his word."

Matt cursed, still muttering. " How did he trace us like that?"

Gathering his charge in his arms, Chul evaporated into mist along with Syaoran. Everyone else looked at each other awkwardly.

" Hmph." Matt muttered, disappearing into wind. He was not going to Korea with them. Everyone else also evaporated, leaving the beach empty. The festive mood had shattered.


	2. Chapter 1

Shadowdance

Chapter 1

It was very hot. Sakura and Tomoyo opted for staying in random stores to take advantage of the air conditioning on their way home from the school. The heat simmered the air and it was very humid. Some of the teens loudly complained about global warming.

It has been a month since Syaoran was whisked off to Korea. So far the boy had not kept in touch with anyone at all, and all the information they had about him came from Chul, who kept in contact with both Yue and Eriol. So far neither of them were willing to tell her any more than that Syaoran was getting used to it, and while they hardly expected him to be ecstatic with his situation, he seemed to be coping well. At one point, however, Yukito had called on his phone and Sakura suspected that he had been calling Chul. They spoke in Chinese, and Yukito seemed very unhappy afterwards. He never told her what it was about though.

Feeling frustrated with the whole affair, Sakura could not understand why everyone was being so secretive all of the sudden. She recalled how Syaoran seemed to withdraw from her, how they kept preventing her from seeing him at times. Before the whole mess he had opened up to her and she to him. Not knowing whether to feel hurt or angry, she decided to wait for his promised letter and see what he said.

" It's not like I'll do anything stupid." Sakura huffed angrily as they entered another store. " I mean, granted I reacted slowly sometimes but why can't they just tell me how he's doing, instead of just giving me vague answers? I know something's up."

" Maybe because…because Syaoran-kun didn't want you to worry about him." Tomoyo suggested.

" So what if I'm worried?" Sakura snapped moodily. " Gomen Tomoyo-chan. I just wish he's okay…"

" He ought to be." Tomoyo assured her. " They can't cover something like that up."

" Un." Sakura nodded. " I wish they trusted me more."

" I don't think it's really about trust." Tomoyo said wisely. " It's probably more about timing. Maybe they don't know for sure. Only Syaoran really knows how he's doing, after all. Chul probably could only report whether or not Syaoran is alive and breathing."

" I guess." Sakura replied.

Feeling rather dissatisfied with everything, they headed out of the store once they were cool enough. Outside the hot air hit them almost painfully, but they endured it nonetheless because both had to get home.

" Look," Tomoyo suddenly stopped. " Eriol-kun's house."

" Oh." Sakura looked at the scene a little sadly. " They're tearing it down…"

Indeed, about half of the house was gone already.

" What are they building instead?" Tomoyo asked.

" I don't know."

" Huh. Shame."

" Un. But no one's living there anyway. Eriol-kun spends most of his time in England anyway, and he can always stay with us if he has to."

" Hai."

They continued on their way home, both a little gloomy from the news.

oO

" You seem pretty on edge today." Touya commented as he turned on the television. " Smash?"

" Yeah, sure." Yukito replied.

" So what's up?" Touya asked as they started the game and started to select the characters.

" Waiting for a phone call from Syaoran."

" Huh?" Touya frowned. " For real?"

" Un." Yukito replied. " Chul said he will call me."

" That makes no sense but alright." Touya waited for the game to load. " Any reason why he's calling you and not the kaijuu?"

" He doesn't want to talk to her." Yukito replied simply.

Touya flicked at the controls. " Ow." He remarked when his character got slammed and nearly toppled over. " Why doesn't he want to talk to her?"

" I didn't ask." Yukito replied. " Thought you would be happy about it, in any case."

" Well, the kaijuu wouldn't be." Touya replied. " Hey, that was cheap." He muttered as his character slammed into the screen.

" You're out of practice. He doesn't know what to say to her, is all."

" How hard can it be. Hey, Sakura. How are you. Things are going fine here."

" That's assuming they're going fine."

" How do you mean?"

" He's depressed. What can you expect."

" Are they doing anything about it?"

" Of course they are. Doesn't mean it's working. He needs people he's familiar with to confide to."

" And you're that person."

" Iie, Yue is."

Touya cocked an eyebrow, letting his character fall off and die. " GAME!" The speakers thundered.

" Don't give me that." Yukito huffed. " I don't know what Syaoran needs. But Yue was the one that helped Syaoran sort through his feelings with Sakura-chan. Not to mention, Sakura still has not told Syaoran, or decided even, what her feelings are. A bit hard to confide in the person you just bared your soul to who then pretty much forgot about the whole thing."

" She did not."

" She is avoiding it. And I'm not blaming her, so don't give me that." Yukito pressed start. He was unusually moody, probably because of Yue. " Just we have to understand where Syaoran-san is coming from now as well. I know if I were Syaoran I certainly wouldn't be too eager to speak with Sakura. I'd want to talk to someone who I wouldn't care how I'd be judged."

" That's true." Touya conceded. " When did Chul say he's going to call?"

" Didn't. Just said sometime this evening." Yukito replied. " Kami-sama, I hope I don't scare him off."

" You?" Touya quirked an eyebrow, once again letting Yukito blast him off. " Scare the gaki?"

Yukito chuckled. " I guess not."

" Weird though. Syaoran just went and decided to call you."

" Iie, it was not like that, actually." Yukito replied. " Chul's been trying to get him to contact us and the kid kept refusing. Apparently he has come up with some sort of plan to get Syaoran to talk to us."

" You mean trick the kid? Really? Is it really that bad with him?"

" He wasn't so bad at first, but something happened recently and made him very withdrawn."

" What happened, exactly?"

" His father showed up again."

" …" Touya blasted Yukito and waited for his character to come back. " When was this?"

" Three weeks ago."

" You didn't tell us this…why?"

" Because I didn't know until yesterday." Yukito replied. " I knew something was up three weeks ago, that's for sure, which was why I kept trying to figure out what happened. It wasn't until yesterday when Chul finally decided to tell me what happened."

" I thought Chul was supposed to protect him."

" He was. Chul stays with him all the time. Just three weeks ago they were having a beach party and Syaoran went with the kids into the water. He disappeared from Chul's sight for a grand total of three seconds and his father was upon him."

Touya paled. " He's okay?"

" Chul got him back, hai."

" Kami-sama that is sick. You're saying that the kid has a chance of getting kidnapped whenever he's away from Chul, whether he's in the bathroom, asleep, what's it?"

" I don't know the details." Yukito replied moodily. " And if they were really that bad, I wouldn't want to know. But I am pretty sure, if Yue is right, that it's harder for Lee to penetrate the protections around the waterspeaker haven than it is for him to just randomly sneak up on him in the open water near the Bahamas, if you catch my drift. In any case the point really is that Syaoran is depressed."

" Why wouldn't he be. His own father is after his blood. A father he probably idolized all his life. Aw come on!" Touya glared at the screen.

" Something else has Chul worried though." Yukito continued. " He said that Shadowmasters wouldn't be too much of a problem if they were just random shadows that occasionally come up and snatch you, because there are others like that and they're not really that dangerous, really. Creepy, but not impossible to defend against. But Shadowmasters have the ability to wake certain aspects of the human nature and twist it into what they want. They usually collect in Africa and control necromancers that way."

" Mind controllers, you mean?"

" Mind modifiers, more like." Yukito replied. " If they all made everyone be goody-two-shoes I guess that's okay. A bit annoying, but not threatening. Problem is they keep feeding hate. They like the show. Chul's worried that Syaoran had somehow become influenced."

" Kid goes Darth Vader?"

" Iie, kid because as super depressed and withdrawn as Syaoran currently is. Apparently he's also been getting a little sick these days too, since his spirit is so low. And he still doesn't have control over his lightning magic."

" Worried at all?"

" A little." Yukito admitted. " But it's probably nothing big. It might be related to his mood. Depression usually does weird stuff to your magic. We should probably be thankful that he hasn't exploded anything like he did at first."

" Hn. You guys know best though, you with your magic."

" Trouble is, I think all he really needs is, well, he just needs to talk to Sakura." Yukito sighed. " Although at this rate, I'm not sure if it would make his life any easier if Sakura returned his feelings. It's gotten way beyond that. As thunderspeaker, loving a mortal isn't the ideal way to go."

Touya stopped pressing buttons and this time Yukito did not take advantage of that.

" If he's immortal why is he in any danger?"

" He's not invincible. He could just potential live forever, that's all. You saw those other firespeakers. They could die."

" Oh." Touya shifted uncomfortably. " I guess…I guess it's a sad thing for him either way then."

" Well, he has me. Or rather, he has Yue." Yukito's character hopped. " Good old Yue. Not to mention, once he enters his element he never has to come back. And that would be kind of like dying."

oO

" Kami-sama!" Touya cried. " The kaijuu is actually playing a girl this time! The sky has fallen! Black is white!"

Sakura glared at her brother and kicked his shin, earning a wince for her effort. Fujitaka laughed.

" Who is playing the prince, Sakura?" He asked.

" Takashi-kun." Sakura replied.

Yukito smiled uncomfortably and glanced at his cell phone. Touya rolled his eyes.

" Stop staring at that thing. It's not going to ring just because you're paying attention to it."

" What is he waiting for?" Sakura asked.

" Interview." Touya said quickly, though not nervously so Sakura did not notice.

" For what?"

" Part time job." Yukito replied. " It's at the college, so I can't exactly head over there, so they scheduled a phone interview."

" I see." Sakura was not really interested in such matters and was willing to believe anything.

Touya chuckled. " Iie, Yamazaki-kun will not make a good princess. He can't open his eyes and he always looks like he's smiling."

" The whole performance makes no sense." Yukito added absently. " Princess sings about her life and all she thinks about is love, prince comes along and they instantly dance. The end. That's more of a song-and-dance, not a play."

" They're elementary school kids. Cut them some slack. Who has time to actually rehearse a real play."

Yukito stared at Touya. " She has more time than any of us."

Touya hesitated. " Good point. Except we're in college now."

" Oh crud, you're right. We don't have to actually do anything except party, do we?"

" I hope you boys know how to discipline yourselves," Fujitaka remarked, looking every inch the professor that he was.

" Oh come on Otou-san," Touya whined a little, " Nobody does anything in college. If we study we study hard enough to graduate. I promise I will not overdose on alcohol or smoke pot. Happy?"

" You mean you'll still drink."

" Er…"

" What he really meant to say," Yukito nudged Touya, " Is that we will totally go to parties to watch other people get drunk because it's fun. Spectators have more fun than actors, in this case."

" Oh I see," Fujitaka replied dramatically, clearly not convinced. He gave Touya a warning glare.

Sakura was a little disturbed. " You like watching other people get drunk, Oni-san?"

" Young impressionable minds here, don't mind what I said." Touya laughed.

" Hey!"

Yukito's cell phone suddenly rang. Getting up from the table, Yukito answered it while moving to another room for some peace and quiet.

oO

" I'm not upset really." Syaoran admitted. " And I'm not angry at anyone. It's just hard to really be excited when he's constantly guarding me. I can't do anything because the other kids are pretty nervous around him and aren't comfortable with him around."

_He is lonely,_ Yue realized, and was not surprised. It took a long time for Syaoran to make any real friends in Tomoeda. Even if he were open and friendly like Sakura, Chul would do much to hinder his efforts.

" You should call us more often." Yukito told Syaoran. " I'm sure Park-san wouldn't mind."

" Yeah, well," Syaoran stopped. " Yeah."

Of course, Yue reminded himself, Park might actually be with Syaoran at this moment, if past experience was anything to go by. If Syaoran had any concerns regarding Chul he would not dare voice it over the phone where Chul might hear.

" You are doing okay?" Yukito asked jokingly. " Not going insane or anything?"

" Well, not _me," _Syaoran replied meaningfully. He gave a short laugh, strangely.

" What do you mean?"

" Some here are odd." Syaoran answered vaguely, probably to throw off Chul.

Jokes. That is very nice. It means that Syaoran is not depressed. A comforting assurance.

" It's really pretty nice here." Syaoran admitted. " They have a bunch of weird stuff that I broke the other day."

" You broke them? What?"

" I don't know. They were pretty upset."

Yue wondered why Syaoran did not seem all that bothered by it.

" At least I still have my magic." Syaoran continued. " Even if I have to get it under control. I don't know why it's gone crazy all of the sudden. I never had this problem before."

" Probably because you are no longer in danger." Yukito pointed out. " You never actually used it unless you were about to die, or someone was about to die."

Syaoran did not reply to that. He gave a sad sigh instead, revealing that while he might not actually be _severely _depressed, he was not entirely happy either.

" Syaoran," Yukito felt the need to add, " If anything happens, if you just want to talk, call me, okay? You can call any one of us, Eriol, Sakura, me, Yamazaki. We all look forward to hearing from you. So don't be a stranger, okay?"

" Hai." Syaoran replied grimly, in the tone of one that is obedient but reluctant.

It was a bit disappointing, but hardly something Yukito did not expect.

" Stay safe." He said.

" I will."

oO

That night Sakura and her guardian slept. The cards glowed and three of them vanished from the book.


	3. Chapter 2

Shadowdance

Chapter 2

It was obvious that watching over the boy 24/7 was not going to work. The boy was feeling stifled and though Chul had enough energy to be vigilant, he knew that the constant attention was bothering Syaoran. So among the many tasks he had to do as Water Lord, such as managing the Council affairs, he tried to come up with a way for him to be there and yet not be there.

The real issue is that Lee had proven he could act fast. One second was all it took for Syaoran to become completely trapped. That presented a big difficulty with any ideas they were currently entertaining. Chul really wished Syaoran could learn how to control his powers faster. It was given that Syaoran could easily overcome Lee if he had full control of his powers. But like any speaker, Syaoran could not be rushed. Sometimes magic is stupid like that.

At the moment, Syaoran was practicing taichi with a few friends, all of whom were older than him. They were all teenagers between fifteen and seventeen, very robust and unruly, but they took to Syaoran instantly and took good care of him. It also helped that Syaoran could match them in any of their activities except anything to do with magic. Quite honestly, Chul wondered where all the famed Li magic went. Syaoran's moon magic, while soothing at nights, was pretty pathetic when put to use. Probably most of it disappeared along with the Li clan.

It must be hard for the boy.

" Try landing on your left." Syaoran was daring someone. " Land on your left!"

" Hell no."

" Why do you even practice this anyway. You have enough chi to do the stunts they pull in those dramas." One of the girls laughed.

" Because," The waterspeaker, Bon-hwa, stroked an imaginary beard, " Taichi makes me look hot."

" You wish!"

Syaoran flicked his finger.

" Ow!" The boy rubbed the back of his head and turned around to glare playfully at Syaoran. " Quit pulling those tricks."

Syaoran did not quite smile, but his eyes were filled with mirth.

" Hey look!" One of the boys called. " It's Prince Nezha!"

Nezha, indeed, was sailing down from the sky in his usual attire and weaponry. He glided down swiftly and landed on the grass, the wheels disappearing. When he righted himself the weapons were gone and he was dressed in the traditional Shang dynasty outfit.

Syaoran ran up to him. Nezha gave him a brief hug.

" Hey," Nezha greeted after letting go, " How are you fitting in here? Sorry I could not come sooner. Deity matters."

" I am doing well." Syaoran replied, smiling a little. He was happy to see Nezha.

" Heard about that mess at the Caribbean." Nezha scowled. " That is ridiculous. I think we will have to find this guy soon, in a way that does not involve you being decoy because that would be foolish. At some point I think I will have to ask my brothers to try to take care of him."

" There any reason why you aren't doing that now?" Bon-hwa asked.

" Well, let me see." Nezha counted his fingers off dryly. " Firespeakers, American satellites monitoring Asian weather so they can eventually create technology to dry up the clouds so the mortals here can eventually either die of famine or completely depend on US imports, taming the firespeaker beast which also happens to be related to firespeakers, increased number of hurricanes due to whatever they set up in Alaska as well as global warming which in turn drags many of our deities spinning over there, the excruciatingly slow drowning of any small country that happens to have beaches, the excruciatingly slow drowning of any large country that happens to have beaches, the Olympics in the year 2008 over at Beijing which causes a lot of construction to be done which in turn poisons the air which in turn causes a lot of windspeakers to complain which in turn causes the Jade Emperor to glare at everyone in court—"

" Alright, alright, we get the point." Bon-hwa laughed. " Good grief, how can you say all of that in one breath?"

Nezha let out a breath, spitting a bit of fire as he did so. " Well, I am beat. I am currently letting my sister take care of some messes. What are you all up to?"

" Just taichi."

" Oh speaking of messes," Nezha started, " I have something for you."

" Huh?" Syaoran blinked, then took the white chou from Nezha. " Oh. I thought it was gone."

" Oh please. As if it could be destroyed that easily." Nezha patted Syaoran's arm. " Took it back to _Niang._ She was furious, but we held on to it for this long, kind of because I forgot about it. We heard that you forgot how to use your powers now. If you get attacked again like last time, you can use the chou to fend him off."

" Oh."

" Only for a while though, but that should give you enough time to call for Chul." Nezha glanced at the waterspeaker.

Chul blinked. Well, the answer to his dilemma had fallen out of the sky. Literally.

" Thanks!" Syaoran tied the chou around his waist.

" Very fashionable." Bon-hwa opined.

" You ought to be able to control your magic much better with that." Nezha told him. " At the very least, it is controlled independently—you have used it before so I am sure you know what I mean."

" Yeah, thanks, this will help a lot."

" So, I am up for some adventure." Nezha glanced at Chul for permission. Chul responded by turning around and heading back into the house. The other waterspeakers looked at him in confusion.

Grinning, the prince said, " Hey, I happen to be quite as powerful, you know."

Everyone brightened. Chul did not try to be subtle about his guard, which made for very uneventful and boring activities. With the famed Trickster God around, they had a lot of ideas to put to practice.

" Let's go into the forest!" Bon-hwa called enthusiastically. " Come on!"

The day was bright and the sun shone warmly, but the waterspeakers cloaked the area in mist which cooled the air. Syaoran ran with the waterspeakers into the trues, Nezha close by him. It was less stressful with Nezha watching over him than with Chul, because Chul took it very seriously while Nezha seemed much more relaxed and flexible about it. They picked a random direction and went, talking loudly and scaring all the animals.

Syaoran felt the white cloth as he walked. Nezha noticed.

" Missed it, eh?" He smiled knowingly. " I know the feeling."

" You've lost yours before?"

" Yeah. Long story." Nezha shrugged. " Will tell you later."

" Okay."

oO

" I am here because you're closer." Chul replied moodily.

" What about Syaoran?"

" Nezha is taking care of him."

Yue folded his arms unhappily. " How long will the prince stay with him?"

" As long as he has to." Chul replied. " I have other matters to take care of. It's what I came here for."

" What is it?"

Chul paused. " I need you to come with me to see a seer."

" For Syaoran?"

" Hai."

" What for?" Yue asked. " Why would you need me to come with you?"

" They say you have dealt with seers before." Chul replied. " Is that true?"

Yue stared at him. " If I did?"

" I am just worried." Chul replied. " Can you come?"

Yue unfolded his arms. " Alright."

oO

Chul ended up taking Yue with him to the Amazon forest, where the great seer Rainha lived. Chul never dealt with seers before, but Yue had, so while it might have been impossible for Chul to locate her hut, Yue found it easily.

Though Rainha had been expecting them, she did not make an effort to meet them, instead waiting inside the darkest room of the hut made of clay bricks and straw. It was cold and damp inside, for the forest was very humid and it had just stopped raining. Her hut was thickly covered with all sorts of plants and Chul had to mist inside. She apparently did not need the basic necessities and therefore never went out.

When they did reach her they could not see her, for the glow of her candles were limited. Yue found the situation very unpleasant and wondered if Chul felt the same.

" Lord Park." Rainha greeted, her figure dark and obscured by the shadows. " Guardian Yue."

Since Chul never met a seer before, Yue took the liberty of speaking first.

" Seer Rainha," He greeted in return, " I trust you know why we are here."

" I know." Rainha moved toward Chul. " Your heart has softened, I see."

Chul stepped back, but wisely remained silent. Rainha continued. " You know gain and fear its loss. You see dark futures, dark destinies."

" I know what I see." Chul stepped to the side. " You do not have to repeat them for me."

" Ah, but the guardian needs to hear." Rainha stepped back to the table. " After all, he shares your heart on the thunderspeaker."

" What is going on?" Yue asked Chul. " What is she talking about?"

Chul did not answer, and neither did Rainha. Instead she sat down at the table again.

" It is a warning, not a promise." She told Chul. " You must see the familiar face."

" What are you talking about?" Chul gritted his teeth. " Of course it was a familiar face. It was my son."

The word popped out of his mouth before he had a chance to think. Freezing, he suddenly realized what happened.

" A son he is." Rainha replied. " But not yours, not yet. You love him as a father, but he cannot love you in return. He is not ready, and neither yet are you."

" What do you mean?" Chul was angry now. " I don't care for this kind of nonsense. Just give me what I want."

" What you want," Rainha said slowly, " Is hard to give."

She was silent for a moment.

" The wounded cannot tend to the wounded, Lord of Water. Can you heal for him?"

Chul turned around. " This was a waste of time."

But Yue looked at Chul sternly. " Do you know what she speaks of?"

" I hardly care! Let's just go."

" Seer Rainha—"

" Go." Rainha replied calmly. " He has heard all I have to say."

Yue hesitated, before bowing slightly to her, and following Chul out.

oO

" You know what she is talking about." Yue tried to convince Chul, who was silently seething. " You know. You cannot keep denying this."

" She accuses me of being _wounded._"

" Well you are." Yue replied quietly. " Or you were. You have changed, but that does not mean all faults have been corrected."

" She blames Syaoran's transformation on me."

" What transformation?"

Chul sighed, slumping into the grass. Though green, they were dry, and crackled under his weight.

" I had a dream."

Yue paused. " About Syaoran."

Chul nodded, reluctantly telling him the gist of it.

Yue remained thoughtfully silent for a while. " You have a past, Chul, that does not bode well for the present. You will have to admit that."

" I will never hurt Syaoran."

" She did not mean that."

" Then what did she mean?" Chul glared at Yue. " What did that bloody Amazon mean then?"

" Who are you?" Yue asked suddenly. " Have you considered? Does Syaoran remind you of anyone in that dream? What was he saying to you, when he had been taunting you?"

" What does this have to do with anything?"

" It has to do with everything. She said that the wounded cannot tend to the wounded. You want Syaoran to become anything except what he was in the dream, correct?"

" You are so not helping." Chul dissipated before Yue could say anything else.

Feeling very unhappy, Yue considered whether or not he should call Syaoran. It was obvious that Chul did not want to listen to any more of this. He wondered what Chul had expected to find with the seer. Perhaps the actual name of the person who would change Syaoran?

Chul loved Syaoran. Yue could tell. But he wondered if it would be enough.

oO

Syaoran was sleeping deeply again. His white chou was tied beneath his pajamas. Chul listened to the sound of his breathing and wondered if it was how his mother once felt, when she had been alive. He wondered what went through her mind when she watched him sleep. Did she think of him as the most precious thing in her life, or did she think of him as the result of cruelty?

He looked at Syaoran for a long time thinking to himself. He wondered how he would feel if Syaoran really hated him. As he thought Syaoran shifted in his sleep and pressed closer to Chul for comfort. Chul resisted the urge to hold the boy.

He recalled the day when he thought Syaoran died. The day when Syaoran appeared again, and he had gathered him into his arms and he could not stop the sobs of relief. He had been so overjoyed he was crying.

There was nothing he wanted more than to take care of Syaoran, and having here had been a blessing, but he knew that the boy was unhappy. He put on a brave front and tried to hang out with his new friends as much as he could, but the child was solemn. He was never really allowed to grieve for his family, and in this new place with people he did not know, Syaoran is afraid to. Chul reached over and sent a wash of healing water. Syaoran sighed quietly.

No, Syaoran would not really be afraid to grieve. But the child would be reluctant to allow himself that relief. He probably wanted to tough it out.

Just like Chul did.

But Chul sensed the tightness in the child's heart. The collecting grief that grows darker by the day. His introverted nature only made it worse. Mere friends were not helping, because Syaoran saw them only as friends, friends who came at the time of need but may not stay.

He wondered how to tell Syaoran that he wanted to take him in, not just for now, but for all of his childhood, and adulthood. How will Syaoran respond?

Suddenly Syaoran woke.

" Dad?!" He cried, jerking up. Chul sat up as well, supporting Syaoran as he looked around. " Dad?"

" What is it?" Chul asked.

The boy was shaking in terror. Chul scanned the room. There were no intruders.

" Syaoran, it was just a dream." He said gently. " I was awake the whole time."

Syaoran continued to shake. " N-no, he's not here."

" No."

" He's not here." But he did not lie down, instead remaining stuff and upright, trembling.

" What happened?" Chul asked.

Syaoran did not answer, but the fear wafted off him in waves. Chul sent soothing energy into him, but for some reason it seemed to scare Syaoran even more.

" What's wrong?"

" N-nothing." Syaoran shuddered. Chul hugged him.

" He won't get you, not while I'm here."

Syaoran finally relaxed, but Chul could sense that for some reason, he was still troubled.


	4. Chapter 3

Shadowdance

Chapter 3

" Of course the kaijuu's having a hard time remembering the lines." Touya smirked. " This is the first time you're actually playing a girl."

Sakura give him a hard kick.

" Ow!"

" It's a lot of lines to remember," Fujitaka said diplomatically, " I'm sure you'll be able to do it by the festival."

" Hai." Yamazaki pointed out. " Besides, you have even more lines than me."

" How is the gaki, anyway?" Kero asked.

Yukito gave Kero a glare.

" Hey," Sakura felt a little left out, " You never tell me how he's doing."

" He's not doing too well." Kero answered, and dodged one of Yukito's smacks. It surprised everyone, because as much as they did not expect that from someone as soft-spoken as Yukito, they expected it even less from the impassive and controlled Yue. It was extremely difficult to tell who commanded that gesture.

" Oh," Sakura was more preoccupied by what Kero said than the odd thing that just happened, " Is he going to be okay?"

" I don't know. I need to talk to Eriol-san about this." Yukito replied.

" Is it really that serious?" Touya asked.

" I don't think so." Yukito left it at that.

Sakura was very unhappy. " I wish there was something I can do. Why can't he call us from time to time?"

Upstairs another one of her cards glowed and disappeared from the book. Sakura did not sense it, but Yukito glanced up thoughtfully, puzzled.

" Probably too occupied." Yamazaki said absently. " They might be keeping him preoccupied. You know, distracting him."

" That's a good point." Touya remarked.

Fujitaka poked his head out of the kitchen. " Hey kids," He called out, " You're going to have to eat out. Fridge's out."

" Oh?" Touya turned around. " What do you mean? You're not coming with us?"

" I have a paper to write. You kids go ahead."

" Oh. Alright then." Sakura said.

oO

" So you have to tap the cards every time you use them."

" Hai."

" That kind of sucks." Yamazaki scowled. " It makes things ridiculously slow. Not to mention, how do you draw the right one fast enough?"

" It kind of just comes." Sakura replied. " Well I know which is which based on the aura, but usually when I think about what card I want it ends up being the one in my hand."

" That's pretty weird."

" You know, I never really thought about it before." Sakura admitted.

" What if you just throw it out and not do anything?"

" I don't think she has tried that." Tomoyo glanced at Kero who was sitting on Sakura's lap, hidden from the waitresses and other customers of the restaurant. " Can she do that?"

" I never tried that." Kero admitted. " Perhaps we should try it sometime."

" Un."

" So what are you folks planning on doing this weekend?" Yamazaki asked. " I really want to go somewhere this weekend."

" Me too." Tomoyo agreed.

" I don't know." Touya glanced at Yukito. " You got anything planned next weekend?"

" Iie."

" Okay, good." Touya clapped his hands together. " Where do you guys want to go?"

" Beach."

" Movies."

" What if we head over to Korea?" Sakura asked.

" Egh." Touya glanced at Yukito for help.

" No good." Yukito shook his head.

" Why not?"

" Can't deal with us currently." Yukito shook his head.

" Are they in trouble or something?" Sakura asked.

" Iie. Just elemental stuff. Things they would not want us to interfere with, which is what we would be doing if we went there. When time comes they will invite us, I promise."

" Uh huh." Even Touya looked skeptical.

They finished their lunch, and as none of them had things to do and did not feel like going home, they wandered around town randomly for a while, until presently Yamazaki stopped them all.

" Matte, guys," He looked around, " Where are we?"

" Hm." Sakura glanced around.

" Hey, I recognize this place," Tomoyo blinked, " But wasn't there a sign over there?"

At the corner of the block they stood on, there was no hint of there ever being any sign before.

" Huh. I thought so too." Touya said thoughtfully. " But look, there's not even a scratch on the sidewalk."

Indeed, the situation is quite bizarre.

" Maybe we're in the wrong place?" Sakura asked.

" Iie, this is the right place." Touya looked around. " The stores are the same. I know this place."

" Something isn't right here." Kero agreed.

" Well, maybe they just took it down and did a good job?" Yamazaki asked doubtfully.

It seemed the only explanation, so they left it at that.

oO

" I got my chou back." Syaoran said happily to Yukito. " I think I'm going to convince Chul that he can take it easy for a bit. It's hard for him too, not just for me."

" Un." Yukito smiled, despite the fact that the other could not possibly see it. He adjusted the phone on his shoulder as he rinsed the vegetables. " And maybe Nataku-kotaishi can watch you sometimes instead. He sounds much more playful than Chul."

" Heh," Syaoran replied, " He's usually too busy but yeah. It's weird; Nezha is several thousand years old but he still acts and looks mostly like a kid."

The chou really must be something, Yukito reasoned, since Syaoran was talking a lot more today.

" We went to the forest and started collecting all these weird bugs," Syaoran chattered on, " Nezha even flamed us a jar so we can store them. Most of them are dead by now though." Here he sounded mournful. " Some of them were even poisonous ones! I got stung by one but for some reason it didn't do anything. They healed me just in case though. And a few were magical ones. Those are still alive. I think I'm going to let them go soon. I feel sorry for the ones that died. They just suddenly stopped moving."

" Hm." Yukito was still smiling. " Well, sounds like you're having fun."

" For the first time since I got here." Syaoran admitted. " Well, I was having fun earlier that other day but yeah…"

Yukito laughed. " Well just stay safe Syaoran-san. Yue wants to remind you never to go anywhere alone. Doesn't have to be Chul, but make sure someone older is with you."

" Hai!" Syaoran consented brightly. " Although Ritsuko said that since my chou is made of pure light essence, it's less likely that any Shadowmaster would come." Here he sounded a bit sad again. " But yeah."

It must be hard for him, Yukito thought. He was not sure what to say at first.

" Syaoran-san," He began quietly, " Don't think about him as your father, Syaoran-san. He isn't. He gave that up a long time ago."

There was a long silence as Syaoran struggled with how to respond.

" It shouldn't be affecting me like this." The boy lamented sorrowfully. " I kind of gave him up for dead a long time ago, you know? And I was used to it. I didn't know what it was like to have a dad."

Yukito reflected that this was probably why Syaoran did not want to talk to Sakura. Somehow the boy took the risk of confiding in him once. Yukito (or Yue) had apparently passed. But Syaoran was not willing to take the risk with Sakura, and to be honest, Yue could not picture him saying these things to the girl. They were a little too…profound.

" And I didn't really need one. I guess I just needed an illusion of one. Pictures, you know, a name. The knowledge that there was one, at least. But now I feel like I need one because I lost what I actually had, and I find even _he's_ gone. And I can't talk to Chul about it because Chul had it worse than me—he never had a dad to begin with, not even an illusion. And I always feel like a whiny brat whenever I do want to talk to someone here."

No hint of the obnoxious or inconsiderate brat now, Yukito thought wryly. Had Syaoran been like this from the start, Yue might not have ignored him so.

" It was kind of like two years ago." Syaoran went on. " I didn't know anyone in Tomoeda and I couldn't talk to anyone. I mean, I'm glad I met Sakura, but I wish it had gone over better. And sometimes I wish I had gone back to Hong Kong when I was thinking about it. I didn't even get to say goodbye. I mean, the last conversation I had with my mom was about my computer, and how I had to partition it, and I was arguing with her about whether or not it was possible yet, and she left annoyed and I left annoyed and it could have gone over a lot better if I actually spent an extra year with her, and my sisters, I'd even put up with their pranks because even if they do it often at least they were always there when I actually needed it, I mean they know how to be serious even if you guys didn't really see that side." Syaoran began sobbing. " I don't know. I can't talk to anyone here. Chul's lost his mom too and he doesn't whine about it. And everyone here has some sort of problem or other and besides, I'm not a waterspeaker. I'm just here because if I'm not Chul wouldn't be able to protect me and who knows what will happen if my father gets me. I don't know how to change into light but I think that would make it all easier. It's better than taking over other people's time and feeling like a wreck doing it."

" Syaoran…" Yukito sighed, even if Yue was not really prepared for it. They had seen this coming. Syaoran had never had the time to grieve.

" I miss my mom." Syaoran wept. " I miss my sisters. They get annoying but they're still mine."

" I know."

" And I even miss my annoying relatives. You know that the clan shares magic right? I mean I didn't really know how to utilize it but I was always able to sense them. No matter how annoying they get they were still closer than other annoying relatives that I hear about. And when I needed them they never hesitated to help. I belonged there. I should have gone back."

" Iie, Syaoran." Yukito soothed. " You would have died with them. And Chul would never know what it means to love someone else."

Syaoran abruptly fell silent.

" Don't think about what you should have done." Yukito continued. " Sakura would have had a harder time passing Eriol's trials had you not been there."

" Eriol was a friend. And I did moot." Syaoran sounded bitter. " All I did was talk."

" And there was no one else to do that for her." Yukito pointed out. " Sakura knows this, so do I. So does Kero. And how do you know Eriol would have remained an ally? What if Sakura failed? You were where you had to be."

" Iie." Syaoran whispered. " How did I get these abilities anyway?

Yue was puzzled himself, as was everyone, but he answered with care.

" Maybe you always had them, Syaoran." Yue replied. " You just needed a way to release them."

Syaoran was silent again.

" Sakura wants to talk to you." Yukito told the child. " She's sensing that you are avoiding her. I understand why, but she doesn't. It will probably do you good to talk to her anyway."

" Like this?" Syaoran's voice was incredulous.

" What about it?" Yukito frowned. " You have nothing to be ashamed of."

" I'm not ashamed." The boy replied flatly. " I just don't know what to say to her."

" You don't have to say anything. You can just listen. She has plenty to tell you."

" Haha." Syaoran laughed bitterly. " I don't know. I feel like I want to think about everything else except her now. I know it's selfish, but I wish she would just tell me how she feels. Either she likes me or she doesn't. I'm tired of losing people, and I'd much rather know that I didn't have her from the start, rather than feel like I had her and then lost her. It's more than I can stand."

" She cares about you." Yukito replied uncomfortably.

Syaoran's laughter was slightly hysterical now. " That should be enough, I guess." He laughed again. " Kami-sama, I can't let Chul see me like this. Can we talk about something else?"

Yukito frowned. " Are you afraid of Chul?"

" Iie. But it would be something if he saw me like this." Syaoran laughed again. " I feel like that time when Eriol entered my head. Couldn't stop laughing then either. Can we please talk about something else?"

Yukito paused. " What's wrong with Chul seeing you like this?" However he is. " He cares for you too."

" I don't care about people _caring _about me." Syaoran snapped. " I'm really _really _tired. You can care about the whole world, you can care about all the planets, that's not going to do _me _any good, is it? I don't need people _caring _about me."

" What do you need then?"

Syaoran was quiet for a long time. " You know what being light feels like?" He suddenly asked.

Yukito blinked. Syaoran went on before he had a chance to reply.

" You see everything." Syaoran's voice sounded resigned. " But you feel nothing. Just radiance, and warmth, and a deep, deep calm. And Time slows down because you're going so fast, but that's fine because you don't feel it pass by. You're everywhere at once. You're the lights in New York City. You're the sun, moon, and stars. You're the glow of some fish's antennae deep down at the ocean floor. There's no pain at all." Syaoran paused for a second. " I wonder why the waterspeakers don't just change into their elemental forms, if it's like that. Because once you come back—I don't know. As light I don't trouble anyone, that's for sure. And I don't need anything."

" Would you go back as light?" Yukito asked grimly. " If you can?"

" Duh." Syaoran said, without thinking. " I'd never come back, if it's possible."

Yukito paused for a while, troubled by this. " What about Sakura?" He asked.

" She still hasn't answered me." Syaoran replied bitterly. " I would wait, especially before, but I can't stand it. I think I'm going to explode if I waited around any longer. My father freaking wants to kill me, my mother and sisters and relatives are all burned to death, I honestly don't want to delude myself any longer by pretending I still had Sakura. Besides," He hesitated, " She never needed me. I always needed her."

" You don't know that." Yukito said tightly. " Have you talked to her lately?"

" Iie," Syaoran said almost lightly, " But she's alright, isn't she?"

" She's been getting very upset lately." Yukito replied sternly. " You should have seen her temper the past few days. And you should know what caused it."

" What, you want me to hang around for Sakura?" Syaoran asked, his voice suddenly very normal. " I guess I can do that, if you can really prove she needs me around."

Yukito frowned even more.

" I'm not asking you to stay for Sakura. She is one of the reasons, hai, but you should be staying for yourself as well."

" Nani?" Syaoran sounded bewildered. " What reason do I have for staying here?"

" You can't run away, Syaoran."

" Well, obviously I can't." Syaoran replied lightly. " We kind of forgot that itsy-bitsy detail that involves me not being able to transform in the first place."

" But you'll learn to do that." Yue replied quietly. " And what are you going to do? Are you just going to leave Sakura? Leave Chul? Your waterspeaker friends? You think Nezha would approve? You think people will respect you for running away like that?"

" You sound a lot like Yue." Syaoran suddenly interrupted. " Huh. You don't use the same words I think he'd use, but you sound a lot like him just now."

Yukito kept quiet, not letting Syaoran change the topic.

" I'm trying very hard." Syaoran confessed quietly. " But I need help. And I don't know what it is, or where to look, or how to get it. It feels like I'm struggling all on my own and people are just around to watch. I'm really trying. I don't want to run away like a coward. But I feel like I'm going insane. I feel like I'd lose it if I don't get help. And just plain talking isn't helping." A choked sob. " I wish there was a miracle, or God, or something. I don't know how long I can keep doing this. I'm so tired. I wish someone was there to help. I wish someone could help me."

Yukito did not know what to say, and listened to Syaoran's sobs for a while, like he did when Syaoran first woke to realize his father had really been there and all his visions shattered. He heard Chul's voice in the background calling to Syaoran and the line went dead.

Sakura might not be enough. Syaoran's despair was too great. And while his last words erased any feelings of reproach Yue had, they increased his fear. He was not sure what Syaoran needed either, but whatever it was, it had better come soon.

Because if it did not they might lose Syaoran forever.


	5. Chapter 4

Shadowdance

Chapter 4

Syaoran refused to tell Chul what had happened to make him break down. Chul did not ask, though he felt helpless. He made a point not to listen in to Syaoran's conversation with Tsukishiro, although it took all of his willpower. He really wanted to know what Syaoran had to tell his Japanese friends. It seemed like Syaoran was easier with them than with the Koreans, and even if Chul knew that was reasonable…

Well, except for Ritsuko and a select few, Chul still hated the Japanese with all his guts.

That night Syaoran was very restless. Chul checked first to see if the boy sensed anything dangerous, but it was just the child's frame of mind. And healing water was not helping.

Seeing as they were both not sleeping at this point, Chul decided to test if they could possibly have an all-nighter.

" Sorry." Syaoran ducked his head. " I don't know what's wrong with me."

" Don't worry." Chul assured him. " I'm not that sleepy myself. Do you want to go out and sit outside for a while with me?"

Syaoran hesitated for a while, before nodding.

There was a lake at the back of the house. The water was pure and clean despite the many things that lived in it. In the middle was a small patch of land where there nested a couple of swans and their babies. At the moment they were all sleeping and it was hard to discern their figures in the darkness.

The night was misty. Chul watched Syaoran take a deep breath to calm himself. He scanned the area in case danger was near before focusing his attention on Syaoran. They sat by the lakeside on the soft grass and stared out into the water, watching the moonlight ripple on its surface as the wind danced past. For a while they remained silent.

" First time I had a real conversation with Sakura." Syaoran broke the quiet suddenly. " We were on a field trip to the beach. She was capturing the Clow Cards and I was also, actually. We were more rivals than friends. It was the Erase Card, I think, but that night we just talked about stuff other than capturing magical cards. Was telling her about my family, she was telling me about hers. It made it easier to be friends, after that."

" You two did not get along well at first?"

" Iie. I was a jerk." Syaoran rested his head on his knees. " Tell you the truth, I didn't like the Japanese either."

Chul raised an eyebrow, but Syaoran was looking at him, and it was probably too dark to see anyway.

" Besides, I wanted to get it over with at first." Syaoran went on. " Didn't like Japan. Hated it. I really wanted to just go home. Figured if I captured all the cards as soon as possible I'd be able to go home sooner."

" And you ended up staying for an extra year."

Syaoran rubbed his eyes. Chul did not pry.

" She was too good." Syaoran's voice was bitter. " When I said I was a jerk, I really mean, a_ jerk._ Hard to tell that from her, huh. She acts like that has never happened. I know I hurt her feelings at least several times early on, but Sakura's just like that, you know. She never holds grudges. And I stayed kind of because Yue made me realize just how I felt. Don't know what I was hoping to accomplish."

" You love her."

" Yeah."

This was something Chul had been ignoring for a while, even though he knew for some time. " Did you tell her?"

" Yeah."

" What did she say?"

" She didn't say anything."

" Know why?"

" Yeah. She was shocked. She didn't see it coming."

Chul paused. " You're still waiting for her?"

Syaoran was uncomfortably silent for a while.

" Do you think I should bother?" He asked. " My heart tells me to wait as long as there's hope. But I'm tired of hope, frankly. It's been falling short lately."

" I honestly don't know." Chul replied honestly. " I've never fallen in love with another woman."

" Not even Ritsuko?"

Chul huffed. " She is decent."

" She's Japanese." Syaoran said knowingly. " And you'd sooner bow in front of the general's grave than love a Japanese."

" Don't go there." Chul said coldly.

Chided, Syaoran looked away. " I didn't mean anything by it." He said in a small voice. " Sorry."

Chul did not respond. "

Nervous now, Syaoran tried again, " I'm sorry Chul."

" I don't want to talk about it."

Syaoran rested his head on his knees anxiously. Chul snapped his head around when he felt Syaoran's aura seem to _withdraw._ Like it was being sucked into his body.

" Syaoran?" He called, his anger forgotten in his worry.

Syaoran did not answer.

" Syaoran." Chul called, more stern this time, ready to move closer to shake the boy if needed.

" Yeah?" Syaoran responded.

Chul hesitated. " Are you tired?"

Syaoran got to his feet, but Chul sensed it was more for his sake than Syaoran's own. Both feeling unhappy, they headed back inside without another word. But Syaoran, who did manage to fall asleep, had nightmares that none of Chul's healing waters could get rid of.

oO

" You alright?" Nezha asked Syaoran as they headed out of the village into the forest. The day was darkening, and it was already after dinnertime, but Nezha insisted on taking Syaoran out and was met with few complaints. After all, he was a god. " You seem very down today."

" I'm alright."

" No you're not. You were all excited that other day when I gave you the chou, and now you're lying to my face. What's going on?"

" I messed up."

" Huh?"

Syaoran wrung his hands, something he learned in Japan. " I messed up with Chul."

" What do you mean?"

" I don't know how we got to that topic," Syaoran wrung his hands again, and again, repeatedly, " I don't know. We got to the topic of him and his general father. I can't believe I was so stupid."

" What happened?" Nezha frowned. " What did he say?"

" He got mad."

" Really?" Nezha was surprised.

" Well yeah," Syaoran exclaimed shakily, " It's a touchy subject. Ugh, why was I so stupid!"

" He got mad? How?"

" He went all cold. I felt it." Syaoran covered his eyes. " I can't believe I was so dumb. I shouldn't have brought it up."

Nezha pursed his lips. " Well, maybe, but I'm more concerned that Chul actually—"

There was a loud thump in the distance. Nezha broke off and looked ahead, frowning.

" What was that?" Syaoran asked.

Nezha took Syaoran's hand. " Hold tight." He instructed. Syaoran's grip firmed.

Instead of heading over to investigate, as Syaoran might have done in the past, Nezha began leading Syaoran slowly away from the sound.

" Come on," He whispered to Syaoran.

Fearful, for he could not imagine what would faze someone like Nezha, Syaoran followed close to Nezha silently as they began making their way out of the woods.

Suddenly, the trees rustled harshly, and they saw a shadow slipping through and darting around them. Nezha took off his hoop and held it in his hand at the ready.

" Get your chou." He commanded.

Syaoran complied. The chou was glowing faintly in the darkness, like a moonbeam. Not really sure what to do with he, he held the long end out while the other end remained tied to his waist.

Several shadows darted around this time. They whisked through the trees so that the leaves fell. Syaoran traced one and threw his chou at it. From his peripheral vision he saw Nezha do the same with his hoop. Syaoran felt the cloth hit and released a flow of chi through it. The shadow dissipated, but reformed.

" Shadowmasters." Nezha whispered. " They do not know me."

He blew out a breath of smoke. " Probably better that way" he said after a moment. " Stay sharp."

Syaoran's chou lifted in the breeze. He jerked it to him.

The shadows solidified into human forms around them. There were seven, all tall and thin and obscured, but the voices sounded young.

" Well well," Said a girl, " What are you kids doing out here all alone, hm?" She stepped into the light. Her skin was black as night, and her hair was hidden by a black veil.

Nezha lowered his chou. " What are you doing in waterspeaker territory?"

" We go where we please." Said a tall boy. His voice was still cracking from puberty. " Where shadows lurk, we are."

" It's the season of the Shadowdance, don't you know?" Said a third male.

Nervous, Syaoran inched yet closer to Nezha, almost bumping into the god. " What do we do?" He whispered.

" Not sure." But Nezha did not seem too worried. " I can easily take care of them. But they're kids."

" You think they will let us go?"

" I do not know. They are teenagers. You can never predict what a teenager does. They are all like women. Even the boys."

" What do we do?"

" We try to get you out of here." Nezha frowned.

One of the shadowmasters suddenly lunged at them. Syaoran saw a flash of red and yellow as Nezha defended, and he suddenly found himself on the ground, with his air knocked out of him. Then Nezha released another block, followed by a series of fire blocks, which flashed around Syaoran so that he was so disoriented he could not even get to his feet.

Nezha suddenly wavered, and Syaoran heard what sounded like a distant chime. The shadows zoomed around him. Nezha blocked, but the chime sounded again.

" Run!" Nezha suddenly yelled. " I don't have much time! I need to go back!"

Scrambling to his feet, Syaoran quickly tried to discern where the village was. Chou tight in his hand, he took off nimbly, slipping between the trees. Darkness suddenly enveloped his vision as he left Nezha's sight and Syaoran shuddered as he fell unconscious, wishing for all the world that Chul was there to help him.

oO

Chul sat in his room moodily, looking over old documents while talking to Yukito over the phone.

" You seem to be unhappy about something." Yukito suddenly noted. " Did something happen?"

" Nothing you need to know." Chul snapped.

" Is it about the dream?" Yukito pried.

" Iie." Chul snorted, and left it at that. However, the young Japanese man did not let him drop it off there.

" Park-san," Yukito began politely, " I am sure you noticed Syaoran's behavior lately has been getting…rather worrisome."

" What do you mean?"

" He's been displaying…suicidal tendencies to me recently."

Chul was speechless for a long time. The statement somehow pained him in a way he could not fathom. Before he recovered enough to speak, Yukito went on,

" I do not doubt your abilities, Park-san, but at the moment I think it would be best if Syaoran could come to Tomoeda for a while."

Chul still did not know what to say.

" He does not misunderstand you, I am sure." Yukito assured him. " But I think the lack of familiarity frightens him. I know your folk have been very welcoming and friendly, but until he learns to view you as his family, he will have to resort to us. We have all known him for years here. Albeit that is not much, and nothing compared to his own, real family, but I think we should take any option we have."

Chul drew a breath. " I cannot leave him alone, you realize, unless Nataku is with him.

" I am not asking you to leave him alone with us. By all means, come with him. We can be good hosts." Chul rolled his eyes at that one. " But we cannot value one danger over another. He can be killed from both within and without. He is trying, Park-san, but he feels that he is out of place and does not want to impose himself on anyone, including you. He would probably feel a lot more comfortable with friends here in Tomoeda."

Chul hesitated for a long time. " Hai." He said finally. " I will talk to Syaoran when he gets back."

oO

Syaoran woke groggily. All was dark, and for a moment he thought he was blind again. Then he realized he could actually make out the stone walls around him.

He pushed himself wearily up to a sitting a position, hesitating when he realized his hands were bound. Lying back down, he wondered if he ought to just go back to sleep. He was very calm for some reason. Maybe it was because he had pretty much given up trying to make sense of things. He idly tried to work his way out of the bonds, but they were chains and pinched at his skin as he moved his wrists.

At least this time there was no fire breathing _monster_ leering at him. He wondered what happened with Nezha. Certainly that god should be more than capable of handling a few teenage shadowmasters. He wondered where he was, and if there were any doors that he might be able to crack open. From his current state that was unlikely.

Maybe his father simply wanted to chat with him?

_Fat chance._ Syaoran glanced at the chains, even though he could not really see him. As he moved he felt the chou flutter against his waist and realized that he still had a weapon his father probably did not know about. At the moment he could probably whisk it out and use it, but he had no idea what it was like outside the dark room. Perhaps if he cut open the chains with the lightning chou the shadowmasters will be upon him in an instant.

He cannot be too hasty. Haste could mean death. And at the moment he was not in dire need of escape. It was not like he was being tortured or stabbed or burned. He could afford to wait, for now. He really had little choice in the matter. For now he should first understand the situation better before planning any action.

Giving up on the chains, he allowed his body to slump to the side and lay there, closing his eyes. There was hardly a difference, anyway, and there was nothing to see. He wondered if Chul was looking for him. He wondered how he would feel if Sakura had been in this mess instead of him. What if Sakura had been the thunderspeaker, and the firespeakers did not attack the Li clan, but the Kinomotos?

Well he certainly would not feel better. He would probably be able to handle the situation better, with the Li clan supporting him, but the situation itself would be worse. But at the same time Sakura might get out easier than him. Maybe. He could not afford to really think about such things.

But what else should he think about?

Suddenly he felt dizzy. It should not matter since he was on the floor, but the feeling was sickening, like something was draining his blood away. He swooned at first, and struggled to come back to his senses. He could not see anymore, and tried to move away from whatever it was—but it seemed the attacker was coming from all around him, even the floor.

" Augh," He cried out, feeling like all his energy had been spent on that one syllable. His limbs felt like lead. He tried to reach for his chou but could not lift his arms.

Then pain shot up his spine to his head and nothing else existed.

oO

Nezha was glad, not for the first time, that his mother's anger was not directed at him. At least not all of it—she was usually rather cross these days, and everyone was suffering it, him included. But right now, the First Elemental is busy screaming at the Jade Emperor—away from view of his nobles, of course, since the sovereign would not tolerate even the thunderspeaker to bruise his pride. However, he was afraid enough of her that he could tolerate her fury in silence when it is private, as it is now.

Relatively. Nezha was quite sure, actually, that very likely the entire Heaven knew his mother was giving the Emperor a tongue-lashing.

He headed outside while his mothe dealt with the sovereign. Muzha was waiting for him.

" Big brother," He called, rubbing his neck,

" Aiyah." Muzha muttered. " You got out okay?"

" Pfft."

" Where do we start?" Muzha lamented. " Do we even know he is alive?"

" _Niang _has not tried to kill anyone yet, so I think we can safely say no." Nezha replied. " But if he is with the shadowmasters he would be hard to find anyway."

" What are the odds that they will kill him?"

" I don't know. It is his father." Nezha pointed out. " There will not be a lot of affection there, but he will not kill his own son if he could use him instead."

" True."

" Last time it was the Card Mistress who knew he was alive." Nezha said. " And pretty much led everyone to him. Perhaps we should ask her…?"

" We ought to find the Water Lord first."

" True."

" Let us be off then."

The two elementals took off from the clouds.


	6. Chapter 5

Shadowdance

Chapter 5

" So his excuse is that the Jade Emperor commanded him to return to Heaven _just as_ they were attacked by shadowmasters?"

There was no hiding it from Sakura, so Yue did not bother moving away from the room.

" Unfortunately," Eriol said wearily, his voice slightly breaking in static since he was using the handy feature of group calling, " That excuse is as good of one as a god's excuse can get. If I'm not wrong, you get instantly beheaded for misdemeanor, and not responding to a call is pretty much considered that."

" So blame it on the Jade Emperor." Chul huffed.

" Pretty much."

" It's not working." Sakura slammed the table in frustration. " And how come Nataku couldn't sense him? Where is that card anyway?" She picked up the deck to look through it in a fit of temper.

" So how do we know that the kid is still alive?" Kero asked.

" According to our fine god here, it is because his wonderful mother is not as _angry _as she ought to be." Chul snapped. " It's all we got, and I'm not exactly willing to believe he's dead if I don't have to."

" But we have to know if there's anything to sense. It's not like Sakura's powers are limitless."

" She ought to." Yue bit back. " She sensed him last time."

" She did not sense him she deduced he was still alive."

Sakura reached the end of the deck, frowning. She glanced at the spread, then back at the deck and began going through it again.

" But what other choice do we have?" Yue asked. " If Sakura cannot find him, and the gods cannot find him. How come the gods cannot find him?"

" Because Syaoran is a god." Eriol replied.

That stopped everyone.

" Huh?" Chul exclaimed. " He's a god? What are you smoking?"

" I am serious." Eriol replied. " Syaoran is a god. Where do you think he got his powers."

" He's a god?" Yue echoed.

Sakura did not appear to hear anything.

" Since when was—how come I didn't know about this?" Chul ranted. " And so what if he's a god? How does that change anything?"

" It makes it possible for him to cloak himself from other gods, which is something mortals can't do." Eriol explained. " And if you remember, Chul, Syaoran's magic seems to be completely asleep after the incident with the firespeakers. It is possible he shut off his signature as well."

" This kid intends on making my life hell." Chul mused wistfully.

" Comes with the package." Eriol replied.

" So what do we do now?" Yue demanded. Sakura stared at her cards for a minute, then started to count them to herself. Tomoyo and Yamazaki stared at her, puzzled.

" Well currently," Chul grumbled, " They were depending on Sakura. But it seems your lovely Card Mistress fails us yet again."

" Which would not have happened," Yue bit back, " Had you not lost Syaoran in the first place."

" Gentlemen," Eriol broke in, " I think the question is where we go from here, not where we came from."

" Well it's not like Sakura is more powerful than a god." Kero pointed out. " If your god can't do anything about this how can you expect her to do better than him?"

" I have 46 cards." Sakura suddenly broke in.

" Well Syaoran-san has a lasin board." Touya suggested. " He didn't carry that with him did he?"

" Iie, but I got a sorcerer to tried that." Chul said dryly. " And according to him, it's pipsqueak magic. The only thing that piece of junk is good for is finding the precious Clow Cards."

" But it should be tightly bound to Syaoran's magic." Eriol protested. " It has his magical signature."

" Well it's moot point if he has no traceable magic, isn't it?" Chul snapped.

" But surely we can locate him some way," Yue remarked, " As long as he still has his magic. According to you, it's only dormant now, not completely erased."

" I think I need to repeat myself." Sakura broke in, louder this time and more nervous. " I have 46 cards."

Everyone quieted.

" Where are the other six?" Kero asked.

Sakura stared. " I don't know."

" You _lost _your cards." Chul exclaimed. " Well I'll be! This girl pulls one stunt after another, doesn't she—"

" How did this happen?" Yue asked. " Did you misplace them?"

" That's not possible." Sakura replied. " I had all 52 when Syaoran left and I didn't use them again." Well, fifty-three, because when Syaoran left another card was added to the deck, she did not count it as part of the forty-six. In fact, she was not even sure what to make of it. " I always carried the book with me but I never opened the book. Never."

" They tore down the house didn't they." Eriol suddenly stated.

" What house?"

" Your house?" Yue asked. " Hai, they did."

" They released it then."

" Released what?" Kero asked.

" Clow Reed made another card." Eriol replied. " One that only he knew about. It was meant to balance out the other 52 cards once the master captures them all, because the other cards are positive energies."

" You're telling them this _now?_" Chul cried incredulously, voicing everyone's thoughts. " What the hell were you doing when you left for that cockney farm of yours?"

" I was thinking of_ Syaoran,"_ Eriol emphasized, " Forgive me if I happen to care about things other than my incarnation's legacy. Not to mention I did not realize they would be so quick to demolish the house. And since I figured Sakura captured all the other cards, she would have little trouble with this one."

" Only the Japanese," Chul huffed, even though that statement made no sense whatsoever, " And pray tell, how do you expect her to be able to deal with a card that can randomly steal her other cards?"

" It does not just steal them." Eriol sounded weary. " It negates them."

There was a long pause.

" Sakura-san, have you noticed things disappearing in Tomoeda?"

" Hoe?" Sakura blinked. " Well, there was a sign that used to be there, actually. We just thought they took it down."

" But there was a bridge." Yukito remembered. " I thought it was odd that it was broken already, since it wasn't that old, but I didn't think that much about it."

" This card negates existence." Chul tested in on his tongue. " Well, you hurry up and take care of this stunt. I have to find my—charge." He hung up.

oO

Sakura headed outside with everyone close behind. Frustrated and panicky, she snapped, " How am I supposed to find the card?"

The obvious answer would have been to sense for the card, which was easier said then done.

" Maybe you can use the cards you do have to look for it?"

Sakura snatched one out. If it did nothing else it would vent her anger. " Wind!"

However she had planned to use the particular card was moot point, because as soon as she summoned it Windy soared up into the sky. It circled once, seemed to revert to its humanoid form and point in a random direction, before suddenly withdrawing into its card form and disappearing. Sakura stared at the sky where it had been in dumbfound shock. Everyone else was equally speechless.

" Try another one." Kero suggested.

Sakura drew the Sweet card, just to be safe. She turned a mailbox into a huge marshmallow on a thick long pockey and the the spirit reverted into a card and disappeared.

Yamazaki looked at Sakura. " At least it does what you want it to do first?"

" The Windy pointed that way." Tomoyo gestured. " We can worry about that later."

Sakura moved to pull out the Fly, then thought better of it. " I wish Syaoran-kun was here!" She exclaimed.

" Here." Touya called, " I'll get the car."

Minutes later, it was clear that whatever card Clow created had been excited to start deleting things on a large scale, to the point where it actually began affecting living things. First the trees on the sidewalks randomly disappeared, causing great confusion in the neighbors. Then, along the highways, signs popped out of existence right before their eyes, along with what squirrels and birds might be sitting on them. The highway disappeared behind them just as they crossed it, and everyone on it also winked out of existence.

" This is a bad dream." Sakura held her head in her hands. " Why would Clow create such a thing?'

" Because he's an arse." Touya remarked, focused on driving.

" I agree." Yamazaki quipped.

" He probably has his own reasons." Yukito insisted.

" Well they bloody well better be good ones." Touya turned. " Kaijuu! Direct?"

" Tower!"

" Again." Yukito muttered.

Touya suddenly slammed the breaks. As everyone was shoved forward, a huge tree branch suddenly slammed into the road.

" Kami-sama!" Yamazaki cried,

" That was too close." Touya sighed. He pulled back. " This is as far as I can take us."

Yukito rapidly changed to Yue as he got out of the car. He took off to the skies before Kero had a chance to transform.

" It's over there!" Sakura called, sensing it now. But as she took to the skies on Kero's back, she heard a cry below her, and looking back she saw Yamazaki and Tomoyo out as they disappeared. Touya reached for them but the magic began swallowing the car as well, along with him.

" Touya!" Yue cried.

" Just take care of Sakura!" Touya had enough time to shout, before he was gone as well.

" Oni-chan!" Sakura cried out, " Tomoyo-chan!"

It was too late. " Quick!" Kero cried. " Capture the card and they'll be alright!"

Sakura turned back, lips tightening in resolve.

oO

As the new Clow Card lashed out against the Card Mistress, the shadowmasters ducked around the tower under the magical card and glanced up, watching as the girl tried to reason with the spirit.

" Huh," Said one, in the contemplative way one speaks when one recognizes a kindred spirit. " Where do you reckon that came from?" She asked, pointing at the spirit.

" Not a shadowmaster." Said one of her friends. " Not even human."

" But same type of magic."

The girl tried to reason with the card, which was a laughable idea to the shadowmasters except the card had responded. As the girl's guardians disappeared as well, they looked at each other in a mixture of amusement and astonishment. Card after card the girl tried to fight with disappeared, and seemed to feed the dark spirit while it drained Sakura's.

The roller coaster track disappeared bit by bit as Sakura eluded the card, as if it was getting eaten by an invisible giant. The shdowmasters stared in a little bit of wonder.

" Should we help her?" The first asked.

" She won't make it."

" So we help her?"

They hesitated for the longest time as buildings disappeared and all that was left was Sakura, escaping as quickly as she could, now on foot.

" We risk exposure."

" We're pretty much exposed already." Said another, strangely enough.

" Alright then. Let's go."

Out from the shadows flocked a gang of teenagers, dressed in black robes. They spun in wisps of shadow up to the Card Mistress. One took her gently by the arm while the others blocked her from the Clow Card.

" Hoe?!" Sakura was panicking. She had run out of ideas and had no time to come up with a new one. She did not resist when the shadowmaster led her away while the other shadowmasters forced the card to come to a pondering halt.

Confused, everything stopped as the Clow Card considered the new foe. Sakura turned her head to glance at the shadowmaster.

" Who are you?"

The shadowmaster pulled off his hood, wrinkling his nose as the cloth brushed against a tiny pimple above his nose. " I'm Dan." He said in English. " And I have no clue what you just said."

" Oh." Not quite following, but recognizing a word here and there, Sakura turned her attention back to the shadowmasters. " Don't hurt it!" She called.

Most of the shadowmasters did not understand her any more than Dan did, but one was an anime and manga fan. She turned around irritably. " Hurt it? How exactly are we supposed to hurt it? It's a blasted card!"

Chagrined, Sakura tried to yank out of Dan's grip, but the older boy held her too firmly. " What are you going to do?" She asked suspiciously.

" We're going to help you capture it," The girl in the front yelled back, " And mind you this is taking out our time so be quiet and let us do this."

Shadowmasters mastered the void as easily as thunderspeakers mastered energy, and within no time Sakura held the Void Card in her hand along with all the cards that were stolen. Yukito and Kero lay slumped, unconscious near her, but alive and for the most part well. Touya's car is still on the highway that had been restored, and it seemed everything in Tomoeda was asleep, but at least there. It felt fake though, not like the accomplishment or growth her other captures had been when Syaoran was around. Mostly because except for a few she really just stood there and let the shadowmasters do everything, not to mention anything Syaoran captured Syaoran had kept until the Final Judgment. The card rang dismally in her mind, a silent magical voice filled with indignation and loss. She suddenly felt like a horrible person.

" Arigatou," She said, with little feeling, but she coupled the words with a bow to show that her gratitude was sincere, " You saved my life, as well as my guardians and brother."

" Pleasure to be of service." The boy with a yamaca bowed back. " Wait a minute, I understood her!"

The girl who knew a bit of broken Japanese glared at him. " Of course you do, you twit. We contacted the card. It knows Japanese."

Not really following the argument, nor really caring at the moment, Sakura bowed again, " Well, arigatou again…I have to get back…" She stopped uncomfortably. " Who…what are your names? I am Kinomoto Sakura."

" The Card Mistress." The girl nodded. " We know of you. Heck, by this time the whole world knows of you. Kind of hard to miss the news, considering the Li clan's demise at the hands of those horrid firespeakers." She did not mention any thunderspeaker. " My name is Teresa. This is Eudidya, Dan, Akil, and Lea. We are shadowmasters."

Sakura stared, speechless. She was so shocked she did not even feel it.


	7. Chapter 6

Shadowdance

Chapter 6

Syaoran woke to find himself in his old Japanese apartment. Except he was sprawled out on the floor.

_Huh?_ He looked at himself. His fingers were cut and bruised. He was wearing the same shirt and pants he remembered wearing when he got kidnapped.

Feeling both confused and disoriented, Syaoran got up, noting how everything was as he left it—except it seemed like this apartment actually had an inhabitant for the last month or so.

Then he saw himself step out of the kitchen.

Both stopped, froze, Syaoran leaning a little away from the other who was holding a towel. The other Syaoran narrowed his eyes dangerously.

" Who are you?" He demanded.

Well, there are three possibilities here, and Syaoran did not care to to risk entertaining the first two. " I think I'm in the wrong dimension."

The other Syaoran considered him. It was then that Syaoran realized the other was sensing him. He did the same and confirmed what he already knew—he was the other and the other was him. The auras were exactly the same. It made him wonder what happened to his thunderspeaker abilities. Maybe the dream got rid of them…but he cannot risk this whole thing being real. It certainly felt real enough, impossible as it was.

Coming to the same conclusion, the other Syaoran threw the towel behind him onto the kitchen counter. " How did you get here?" He asked, voice still suspicious but less threatening. " You look pretty battered."

" I don't know." Syaoran replied honestly. " I got kidnapped."

" You got kidnapped?" The other grimaced. " You know who?"

" Shadowmaster." _My father._

_" Shadowmaster?"_ The other one frowned even more. " Never heard of such a thing." He gestured to the sofa. " But with magic, egh." He did not offer Syaoran food, nor did Syaoran expect him to. Still, the offer to sit was kind enough. Syaoran took a seat. He wondered if his counterpart in this world was just less suspicious in general, but then the other boy's manner reflected his own before everything fell apart.

" Yeah." The other boy nodded. " I'm going to call _Niang_, if you don't mind. I don't know what it's like with you, but you're magical too, and they'll sense something's wrong here."

A deep pain stabbed into Syaoran. In this dimension, he still had a family to call, a family to sense something was wrong.

" Where is your father?" Syaoran suddenly asked.

" Dead. Yours is alive?"

Syaoran was not sure how to answer that question. The other was preoccupied with dialing anyway. " This is too weird." The other muttered unhappily. " And if you didn't have the same aura…" He left the threat hanging in the air.

Syaoran listened numbly as his other self spoke to his mother. How many times had he done that in the past, with Sakura and the Clow Cards, reporting back, hearing his sisters consoling him, encouraging him, feeling the support of his family late at night when he would wake up realizing he was in a foreign land with no adult to protect him except that wonderful magic of family. He wondered how he got here.

" We'll have to find some way to send you back, fast." The other gave him a pained look. " I'm heading back to Hong Kong in two weeks."

That could be either a lot of time or very little time. Syaoran chewed his lip. With his luck, it probably was very little time.

" I'll call Sakura." The other scowled at him. " This is too weird."

Syaoran agreed.

He waited until the other was done before asking, " Is Eriol still here?"

" Hiirigaziwa?" The other scowled hideously. " Iie, and better that he left too."

Syaoran did not pry. " What about Chul?"

" Chul?" He gave Syaoran a blank look. " Don't know anyone by that name."

Syaoran rubbed his face and wondered if he even really wanted to go back.

Suddenly someone _else _stepped into the living room. A girl, with black hair done into pigtails. At first she was grinning at her Syaoran, but then her smile froze when she caught sight of both of them.

This one had no magic to confirm anything. She let out a high pitched shriek, and Syaoran barely had time to dodge the blow that came his way.

" Imposter!" She yelled. " Who are you?"

Syaoran found himself on the floor again, his bruises aching. His other self tugged on the girl.

" Meiling!" He hissed. " He's lost."

" How do you know?" She demanded.

His other self gave her a look. Meiling blinked. " Well, I don't trust him."

Syaoran could not blame her, but he was too busy trying to get to his feet without getting his bruises aggravated. The other pulled her back.

" Well, he's no harm to us." The other said wisely. " Hey, your Meiling like this too?"

" Huh?" Syaoran grimaced. " I don't know any Meiling. Who is she?"

His other self narrowed his eyes a bit. " She's my cousin…"

Syaoran stared.

oO

Ironically, as soon as Syaoran left the dimension everyone was able to sense him. Very clearly, in fact.

" That is so strange." Nezha could not wrap his head around it. They were all in the Water Lord's court, as it was called. Nezha knew that often Chul chaired the court of waterspeakers, or other elementals, if necessary. It was a very large room, very high, and resembling almost the court of the Emperor, except there was significanly less gold involved in the design. Long tables lined the left and right sides of the room, with comfortable chairs behind. Usually the space in the middle was empty, but today there was a long table next to a huge map that had Nezha not been a god he would not have understood to be that of the cosmos. Usually the court was empty, since there are not so many issues to address, but today it was packed. Matt was by the exit, cursing as he usually did, with people doing their best not to step around the map and some opting to hover in the air because such a thing was hopeless. Some earthspeakers peered at the map, along with Nezha's deities. Chul was not at his seat, instead next to one of the long tables where there was water for the tired to drink and a little bit of food. Nezha mused while chewing on a piece of bread. " Did Lee want him out of this dimension on purpose?"

" That's great." Chul gritted his teeth. " That is bloody awesome that. Now can we please concentrate on getting my son back in one piece?!"

Nezha raised his hands in a placating manner. " It might be an important clue." He replied quietly, but understanding Chul's nerves. " We'll get him back. He's not hurt, as far as we know. And seems to be fairly calm."

" Assuming he's conscious." Chul snapped.

Chul was especially sensitive to Syaoran's presence, now that Syaoran was about as far away from him as the boy possibly could, except death. As soon as the Water Lord spoke those words he tensed.

" What is it?" Nezha asked.

" He's disturbed." Chul replied. " Something alarmed him."

" Well, at least he's awake." Nezha glanced at Muzha, who was waving the other elementals away. " Is he alarmed as in frightened or alarmed as in…well?"

" I don't know." Chul set his jaw. " I can't tell that much."

In a whirlwind of air, Eriol appeared along with his windspeaker chaperone. Next to him was Mizuki Kaho, who looked around rather calmly and set her bags on the floor. Eriol had grown much taller since the last time they saw him.

" You finally decided to grace us with your presence." Chul sneered.

" I had my reasons for delaying." Eriol replied. As he reached up to pull at his key the sleeve rolled, revealing a rather nasty gash on his forearm.

" What happened to you?" Ritsuko asked.

" Sorcerer business." Eriol replied. " You seem less worried than you were on the phone." He noted to Chul.

" Syaoran is not in this dimension any longer." Muzha told Eriol. When the reincarnation of Clow gave him an uncomfortably funny look, Nezha quickly stepped in. " This is Li Muzha, my second brother. He is usually too far up for you to visit."

" Ah." Eriol blinked. " How do you know that he's not in this dimension?"

" We can all sense him clearly." Matt replied. Then he swore. " Sorcerers."

" That might be a reason why I can't." Eriol agreed. " Though I do not understand how elementals can be so in tune to each other even across worlds."

" We would not be." Nezha replied. " That is probably something you sorcerers are better at. However, Syaoran was somehow forced through by his shadowmaster father."

Kaho paused. " That makes no sense." She frowned. " Are shadowmasters capable of doing that, Eriol-san?"

" Their abilities are rather vague." Eriol replied. " As are their motives. Which world is he in?"

" That's what we are trying to find out." Nezha replied. " I've the deities working on it, but so far no luck. There are too many dimensions out there."

" Is he in danger?" Eriol asked Chul. " Do you sense him in danger?"

" Iie." Chul shook his head. " He's anxious. Who wouldn't be."

" Not in danger." Nezha also shook his head. " I can't sense him as well as Chul, for some reason. Maybe it's because he spent more time with Chul than with me." He said this a little regretfully.

Eriol made his way over to the map, wincing when he saw just how crowded it was. The elementals did not pay any attention to him as they inspected each area. He carefully stepped around, careful not to trod on anyone.

" You are not looking at the map?" Kaho asked Chul curiously.

Chul glared at her. " I was."

So was Muzha and Nezha, for the last four hours. Though it was not much work for the Li brothers, Chul, coupled with his initial anxiety, had to take a break.

Eriol left the court suddenly with another elemental. Kaho watched him go.

" Where is he headed?" Muzha asked.

" To Syaoran's room." Chul replied. " Hopefully he's a better sorcerer than the others."

" He has half of his magic." Kaho reminded him gently.

Half an hour later Eriol came back. In his hands he held Syaoran's lasin board.

" Will that find him?" Chul asked, for once hope entering his voice. He did not think to try that, since it did not work before.

" We can still try." Eriol replied. He held out the compass.

" Imperial king of gods,

Your divinity watches over the four corners

Metal, wood, water, fire, earth,

Thunder, wind, lightning,

Whirling blade of light,

I summon thee!"

With a spark, the compass suddenly lifted itself out of Eriol's hands. It started to spin as if it were an arrow. Faster and faster, until there was a wind current in the room from its motion, it suddenly shot out its light—except they split into smaller beams that dotted all of the map.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

" Let me guess," Chul remarked acerbically, " It just told you the position of every Syaoran there is."

" It's a start." Eriol inclined his head.

" How the hell is that a start?!" Chul snapped. " How are we supposed to tell which is which?"

" By finding the point with two beams." Eriol replied. He raised his hand again. " By power of his ancestor,

I, Hiirigaziwa Eriol, command

Show me where two lie in one." The board shuddered. Eriol then repeated Syaoran's incantation.

All the lights seemed to withdraw into the board. The elementals watched, a little alarmed, as the board began to shoot out twin lights as if in random order, flashing uncomfortably in the room. Eriol watched almost impassively as the board began to shudder harder and harder. Nezha knew that the board was not magically powerful enough to take much more, but it seemed Clow was intent on waiting until it found Syaoran before he stopped it. If it finds Syaoran before it breaks.

After what seemed like a whole hour, the board suddenly pointed the two lights in one spot. It sustained the beams for a full three seconds before the light flickered out and the compass burst into flames. Eriol sent it clattering away from the map before it could set the picture on fire.

" There," Kaho dove upon the map, regardless on what other elementals she fell on, " It landed here."

Chul doused the flames on Syaoran's board. " You sure?" He asked dryly.

" Yes I am certain." Kaho replied. She turned to the gods for confirmation.

Kaho's guess was as good as his own. Nezha looked at the spot. " I know that area." He said. " It's almost exactly like this dimension."

" Difference being?" Matt inquired.

" Well," Nezha scratched his head, " Nothing, really. Except, well, there is no thunderspeaker. If there are two Syaoran's there, the original Syaoran there never became an elemental."

" Huh." Muzha suddenly realized. " He doesn't want to kill Syaoran. He wants to erase him."

Nezha stared at his brother.

" What do you mean?" Chul asked.

" It makes sense now." Muzha turned to the Father of firespeakers. " That's why he kidnapped Syaoran. He wants to get rid of him. He wants to get rid of him in a way that he was never even conceived. And the only way the shadowmaster could do that is by either turning back time or, the easier way, sending Syaoran into a dimension very much like ours, so much so that he would merge with the other Syaoran and reverse the pattern in this dimension so he never exists in the first place. Then there will be no thunderspeaker here…"

" And no threat to the shadowmasters." Nezha finished.

" Did it work?" Chul asked.

" Luckily, it didn't." Eriol replied. " Otherwise the incantation would not have worked. The board would have burst into flames without giving a location. And you would not sense Syaoran at all. Somehow Syaoran pulled a trick and ended up co-existing with his other self." He glanced at the map. " And I think the situation is quite stable, actually."

" Iie. It won't remain so for long." Nezha waved at the elementals. " Dimensions are tricky that way. They're dynamic. We better get Syaoran back. Because even if he does survive now, doesn't mean that world won't eat him up anyway later on. We don't have time to lose."

oO

Despite her earlier distrust, Syaoran found himself very willing to confide in Meiling. She was apparently the only Li member who did not have any magic. It made him feel very sympathetic yet respectful of her. Such pressure must make life especially hard. He wondered if he would be as kind as the other Syaoran if he had a cousin like Meiling.

He marveled that Meiling even existed.

The other Li headed out to get some supplies ready for his departure. Sakura was not at home, nor was her brother. Actually, Syaoran had a hunch his other did not even call the Kinomoto residence. Apparently he and the older Kinomoto did not resolve their differences yet. In any case, that left him and Meiling in his old apartment, alone, which was not something Meiling had enjoyed at first.

" Look," She snapped, glaring at him with her intense Li eyes, " I don't know who you are, but you are not fooling me. You better not try any funny stuff. I might not have any magic, but I've got a ton of tricks you won't even dream of. So don't pull anything!"

He stared at her, wondering how she must feel being surrounded by people who she was taught was better than her. The girl must be constantly trying to prove herself. Her manner certainly said as much.

"I just want to get home." He said tiredly. Or perhaps, join the element, never come back. He will sail the skies, and see everything and hear everything at once, reach past the ocean surface into the color below, peer inside flowers and rabbit holes, glow in rooms of little boys at night as they studied and read and played. His hand sparked. Meiling jumped, startled, and Syaoran lifted his hand.

" Oh." He blinked. " It's working again."

" What is?" Meiling asked suspiciously, though her curiosity was getting the best of her.

And slowly, interrupted by many questions, Meiling heard the whole story. Her face paled when she realized that the Li clan had been wiped out, that Syaoran was now living with Park Chul. The other Syaoran did not recognize the name because of how familiar Syaoran himself was with it, but actually both of them knew of the Water Lord.

" You live with _him _now?" Meiling cried, outraged. " He kills children! He either dries them out like raisins or—or—or—" She was at a loss for words.

And when she heard that Syaoran's father was a shadowmaster, that his father was the one that sent him here, she remained almost frightfully silent, her eyes intent on his. Quietly, she reached out and took Syaoran's hand in hers, squeezing it consolingly.

" We'll get you back somehow." She promised. " But if not, you're welcome to stay here for as long as you want. You can come with us to Hong Kong. Aunt Yelan would not mind, I'm sure. I know Syaoran would not mind. And…you're family, either way. We'll take care of you. You don't have to go back."

Syaoran felt his heart burst into pieces and wondered why in the hell _he_ did not have a cousin like Meiling.


	8. Chapter 7

Shadowdance

Chapter 7

After a slight misunderstanding Sakura learned that in fact, not all shadowmasters were of the same mind as Syaoran's father, and in fact none of them even knew about Lee's son.

" We keep to ourselves." Lea explained. " Normally when we do go out it's because someone intruded." Which explained, Sakura decided, why the gods never heard of them, and why it seemed everyone had such a low opinion of shadowmasters. If every time they encounter shadowmasters it was because the shadowmasters were fighting against what they thought was intrusion, of course the others would get annoyed.

" I did not know Lee had a son." Dan admitted. " I wonder how that happened."

Sakura wondered too, but had decided against dwelling on it. " He kidnapped Syaoran. He'll hurt him."

" Hm." The shadowmasters looked at each other uncomfortably.

" He was a bit of a loony." Teresa told the group while Sakura poured some tea for everyone. " Trouble is, he can kill everyone like that," She snapped her fingers for emphasis, " So it would be suicide to go against him. It turns out not to be such a big deal in the long run because he doesn't really do anything meaningful. Kill a bunch of sprites here, burn a bit of woods there, cause a little stir, not sure what he's going for. People were afraid he's another one of those world domination freaks, but he isn't because he's too…"

" Scattered." Dan supplied.

" No one really knows what he really wants." Teresa continued. " And to be honest, I don't think he knows himself. They say he's got so much power he can't help but let out it randomly. I don't know why he would kidnap your Syaoran though. It's bizarre, even for him. And to have a son!"

" But some of the elders think that he's scattered to throw people off." Akil told Sakura. " Especially since we know he's not mad…well, not in the way that most people are. There were rumors saying that he had that Water Lord as an apprentice at some point—"

" Yeah, and he taught the waterspeaker all the tricks, which is odd because he's an water elemental, and Lee couldn't possibly understand what it takes to control water in any of its forms—"

" I heard he taught him more political tricks."

Sakura glanced at Kero and Yue, who remained silent.

" They say the first time the Water Lord made his debut," Dan informed the group, " He went to this Japanese village a bit north of Mount Fuji. That point Japan was just starting to come up, you know. What with the Korean war and all, and everyone glaring at Japan and Germany, and you had a bunch of American bases dotting the country because they were the enemies of peace, the like."

" Details aren't really known, but they use to scare us when we were little, that the Water Lord flipped the land upside down." Akil chewed his lip. " He used water and sunk the land."

" Sinking land is more of an earthspeaker trait," Lea bobbed her head, " So when the Water Lord used his water to sink the land people went nuts."

" Word quickly spread."

" And the entire village was gone completely. Flipped inside out. Instead you got like ten thousand year old fossils just beneath the surface of the soil."

" And no one knew where the villagers were."

" Or the houses."

" Buried some length below."

" It was literally flipped upside down."

Sakura looked at her guardians, not a little bit frightened.

" There were kids, there were regular mortals, in fact I don't think any magician or magical being was even on that land so the magical world went crazy." Teresa gestured. " They said that Lee Senyan was the one that made the Water Lord do that for some reason. What they got out of it, no one knew."

" The event was hushed up in the mortal world because it was just downright scary."

" So then everyone became really wary of Lee Senyan, because they thought he had this lunatic working for him who, despite being a waterspeaker, could control land!"

" And then the Water Lord went on some other errands, but they keep telling kids that if you behave badly, the Water Lord will come and get you."

" He's done stuff like that. He either filled a body with water till it burst or dried it to a raisin."

" And they said that Lee Senyan was the one that taught him how to get away with it."

" Kami-sama," Sakura gasped, " But Syaoran-kun—"

" Matte," Yue held out his hand to subdue her, " What happened next, according to the shadowmasters?"

" Well, it's the same according to us as according to anyone," Lea replied, " The Water Lord and Lord of Shadow had some huge disagreement and they turned against each other. Lee Senyan was in for a big surprise when it turned out that the Water Lord was actually a match for him. Heaven knows how the Water Lord got away with everything in his past—the waterspeakers just took him in as if he didn't do any of all that horrid stuff. If it were shadowmasters he'd have been shunned, I tell you."

" And from then on it seemed like Lee just forgot about him. If this Syaoran is really the ward of the Water Lord, it's possible Lee is interested in him in order to hurt the waterspeaker."

" And not because he's a thunderspeaker?" Kero asked.

The shadowmasters shrugged. " Dunno. We don't care about elementals. Thunder, shmunder. We're shadow. We deal with everything that is intangible, and other dimensions. If Syaoran were a necromancer, that's one thing. Thunderspeakers aren't our concern."

" But didn't Lee deal with Chul though?" Kero prodded.

The teenagers shrugged. " It is kind of weird." Teresa admitted.

" We can go look for him. Maybe sneak you in." Dan looked doubtfully at the others. Sakura had a hunch these teenagers were natural troublemakers.

" But they'll sense you out like that." Teresa repeated her earlier gesture.

" Except you have a card that's based on shadow, don't you?" Akil reminded everyone.

" Hoe?" At first, Sakura was thinking of the Shadow Card. It was not until a look from Kero that she remembered.

" How will I use it?" She asked, puzzled.

oO

" Fiancé?" Syaoran stared.

His other gave him an uncomfortable look. " I guess since she does not exist in your world it would not have happened."

" Still," Syaoran fought a shudder. " You two were fine by that?"

" She's a good girl." The other's eyes narrowed dangerously.

" I know that." Syaoran raised his hands in a pacifying gesture. " But I find it bizarre, in any case."

The other Li sighed. " It's a long story."

Syaoran gave him a look.

" It had to do with a fortune teller." The other confessed to Syaoran. " When I was born they took me to a fortune teller in order to find a right name for me."

" Sounds right." They did the same with Syaoran.

" My aunts told me that when the fortune teller saw me he instantly gasped and warned that if they don't take necessary precautions…I would not last the year."

" Huh." That also sounded about the same.

" So the first step they did was name me Syaoran, so that the God of Death Lord Yan would not find me very attractive due to my name."

" How does Meiling fit into all this?"

" She was supposed to be a tie to bind me into this world."

" Oh."

" They couldn't find a better girl in a hurry."

" That's ridiculous." Syaoran rubbed his head. " You believe in that stuff?"

His other snorted. " Ugh! No! But Meiling's the one who has to suffer for it, so I bear with it for her sake."

" And now?"

" Well, there's Sakura." Apparently in this world, Syaoran had returned to Hong Kong at the end of the year already, and Meiling had dragged him back for the summer. Clow, in this dimension, had left one remaining card he told no one else about, and upon the two's return to Tomoeda the card was released. Conveniently, the card allowed Sakura to confess her feelings for Syaoran, which meant at least Syaoran was heading back to Hong Kong with the blessing of being content.

" You ought to watch out for that Void Card when you get back." Meiling had warned. " It's a beast. Syaoran was the only one who could get rid of it. Anything Clow based pretty much got eaten up by it. Along with everything non-magical."

This world's Kerberus, predictably, was a lot more hostile in general than the Kero in Syaoran's own dimension. What hurt a little was that Yue was somewhat cold to him too. Once everyone, including Sakura, got over the shock of having two "gaki's" in the same place, they quickly proceeded to try their best to quickly usher Syaoran away.

" One gaki is enough!" Kero had complained. " Two! Kami-sama!" And Yue's reaction, though much more subdued, was pretty much along the same lines, if his slight start upon seeing Syaoran was any indication.

So now everyone was crowded in the Japanese apartment living room. Sakura was trying her best not to be completely weirded out by the whole thing.

" Tricky business, dimension crossing." The other Li folded his arms.

" Maybe we should call Eriol-kun." Sakura suggested.

Suddenly, two thin beams pointed from the sky directly at the chests of both Syaorans. It hovered there for a minute.

" Hoe!" Sakura cried.

" Huh." The other Li remarked. " That feels like a lasin board."

" That feels like _my_ lasin board." Syaoran corrected.

" Well at least we know that our job is not being hindered." Kero hovered around restlessly. " Think they located you?"

" If they have enough time." Syaoran replied. The beams disappeared.

" What do you mean?" Meiling asked.

" The lasin board's not designed to search through such a wide area."

" Hai, I'm surprised." The other Li agreed, though not sounding surprised at all.

Strange, Syaoran decided. Everyone sounded so calm. Sure, Sakura was uncomfortable, Yue was ignoring him, which hurt but not that badly because it was not _his _Yue, who he had confided to for so long now. Kero was back to trying to get him into glaring contests that Syaoran simply did not have the heart to participate, which was fine because his other was more than willing to substitute.

They took it so casually.

" We need a map." Li told everyone.

" Well, where are we going to find one huh?" Kero darted right into the boy's face. Syaoran watched, feeling very cold and empty. " You don't seem to have one, do you. And you think we just carry around a map of dimensions with us?"

" Kero-chan!" Sakura scolded.

" Sorcerers don't carry maps." Meiling pointed out. " They were all taken by the elementals after the Fourth War of Dirt."

Syaoran cocked an eyebrow. _What?_ That was more random than things were getting these days. And that definitely did not happen in his world.

" Who has the maps?" Kero asked.

" What, you don't know?" Li sneered.

" Hey, I happened to be in the book all this time, kid!" Kero shot right back into Li's face.

" Kero! Guys, stop it!" Sakura was losing her temper now. " Seriously! We have to help him get back and all this bickering isn't going to help!"

" The waterspeakers have one." Meiling's face fell. " Oh crud.. We aren't going to have to…"

Syaoran stood up, and paced a little in front of Yue. As he did it he kind of felt like he was prancing in front of the guardian, but he seriously was not in the mood to think about how he looked. He did not want to see Chul. Oh hell, he did not want to see his own Chul, let alone the Chul here, who undoubtedly had no reason to be kind to him.

" What is it?" Tomoyo, who had been silent all this time, asked. " Why are you so pale, Meiling-chan? Are you alright?"

" We have to see the Water Lord." Li sighed.

" What Water Lord?" Yue asked.

As Li explained who the Water Lord was, since the guardians did not know, Syaoran tried to vent his restlessness by casting little electric orbes into the air in front of him. They dissipated quickly enough not to touch anything, and after a while the repetitive motion calmed him a little.

Silence fell. Syaoran turned around to find everyone staring at him, including his other self. Feeling worn, he withdrew from the room into his other self's bedroom. He was sure Li would not mind, And he was feeling lousy and ill. He did not want to see Chul.

" You okay?" Asked Sakura. She was being her usual caring self. Syaoran gave a half-hearted shrug. " We have to call the Water Lord then."

Li groaned. " I hope he's saner than stories make him."

Sakura stared at him, wide eyed, but Li did not have the heart to give her any false hope. " He is a vicious man." Meiling agreed. " I don't know about your Water Lord, but stories here say that he has used _water _to flip an entire area of land upside down, burying everything above it, including people."

Sakura turned stark white. Syaoran simply nodded. " The same stories were told in my world."

" Why would he do that?" Sakura asked.

" Don't know." Meiling shook her head. " But if he's the only one that can help…"

" Maybe we should call Eriol-kun first." Sakura insisted.

oO

Eriol could not help them.

" You would need a map." He said. " I do not have one." However, he did provide some assistance.

" I will call an acquaintance of mine," Eriol assured Sakura, " His name is Watanabe Ichiro. In the past he has had close dealings with the elementals, waterspeakers especially. I will see if I could get hold of him."

Eriol was very efficient, and so was Ichiro, who called back in no time.

" I'm going to join phone calls, Card Mistress," The sorcerer told Sakura kindly, " And you may speak with Ritsuko. She's a good friend of mine."

So the speakerphone was turned on and a friendly and familiar voice joined the line.

" So what's up Ichiro-san," Ritsuko asked. " I hope you're not causing more trouble for us."

" Well, I'm not the one causing trouble." Ichiro returned dryly. " Seems we have an inter-dimensional issue at hand here."

" What do you mean?"

" Someone from another dimension has arrived here," Ichiro replied. " From what I can gather from Eriol, someone rather close by. If we don't hurry, they might merge with the ones here."

" Oh dear." Ritsuko paused. " I suppose you want the map."

" Hai." Sakura joined, " If we can borrow it this once?"

" Oh!" Ritsuko sounded delighted. " That must be the Card Mistress. You sound awfully young—how old are you?"

" I'm eleven," Sakura replied willingly.

" That is young." Ichiro sounded doubtful.

" Well, we do have a problem," Ritsuko told everyone, " Chul will not be happy about us just taking the map over to Tomoeda. He hates Japan."

" I know." Ichiro replied dryly. " Surely you can talk to him?"

" He's not here. He's with Matt. And his cell phone's off. The windspeakers are cloaking their area, probably because of the firespeakers."

Ichiro groaned. " Well, what do we do now? We need that map to get whoever it is back home again."

Syaoran was thinking that merging sounded like a good idea.

" We can get them over here." Ritsuko suggested. " That way…if Chul comes back at least the map is still here. He'd feel better about that, I'm sure."

Syaoran shuddered inwardly. He was not certain how he felt about going back to Korea. He did not want to see it again. It reminded him of those nights when Chul stayed by his side. When he had left Chul…he had been so stupid. He did not want to be reminded.

The others gave him sympathetic glances, except Kero and Yue, of course. But he was beyond caring.

They were heading to the waterspeakers.


	9. Chapter 8

Shadowdance

Chapter 8

" Blasted girl is not answering her phone." Chul bit, slamming the phone down. " Still chasing that card of hers, I'll bet."

" Could you quiet down?" Ichiro shouted back. " This takes a lot of concentration!"

Properly reprimanded, Chul did, indeed, lower his voice. " Think we can do this without her?" He asked Eriol.

" She could help." Eriol replied. " She has the firepower now." It took a lot of magic to cross dimensions, which was why there are now about twenty sorcerers all at work in the center of the garden. So far they were able to construct a physical doorway, but as of now that doorway led to nowhere. _That _took an entirely different spell.

The elementals were all sitting around now, staring. Eriol and Kaho did not participate because neither of them had enough magic to help.

" This will not work for you politically," Chul said to Eriol, referring to his lack of bite now that he split his powers with Sakura's father.

Eriol simply lifted his wounded arm.

" You shouldn't have done it then."

" I had to. It was part of Clow's plan. He did not want all of his powers stored in Sakura's father because Sakura would not grow to be the kind of girl she is. So he split his soul in half."

" Well, that is very insightful of Clow. What did he do for his own descendant then?"

Eriol looked at Chul a little forlornly. " Clow has many descendants, over the years. Syaoran was just one among many."

Chul was silent.

The gate pulsed with magic suddenly, then everything shattered. The sorcerers were thrown back. The windspeakers quickly rose to cushion them, as well as the splinters and shards that also were blasted into the air.

" No good!" Ichiro rubbed his forehead. He now had a nice open gash on his forehead, which the waterspeakers quickly healed. " I'm fine! But we don't have enough power for the spell."

" You certain?"

" It's not elemental magic." Ichiro shook his head before Chul could even suggest it. " You can't boost it."

" What ever happened to the awesome deities?" Chul complained.

They were meeting with the Jade Emperor.

" We'll get him back." Ritsuko soothed.

" Is the kid alright?" Matt asked.

Chul was quiet for a moment. " He's scared." He said softly.

" In danger?"

" I don't know. Dreading something a lot."

" That can mean a lot of things."

" Yeah," Chul sighed, and all of the sudden he looked tired and old. He was remembering the dream, Syaoran's terrible smirk, the last killing blow Chul was forced to make. He thought of the almost constant anxiety he was sensing from his charge. Could it be the trauma of the world Syaoran was sent to? Is it possible that Syaoran was frightened to madness?

oO

" I only brought it in case." Li told Ritsuko. " I was hoping you people had one. It's not that good at sensing things other than Clow Cards, let alone from other dimensions." He set the lasin board on the table.

The waterspeaker village was exactly how Syaoran remembered it, which, far from making him feel pained, made him actually feel rather astonished by the whole thing. Ritsuko was still her relatively cheerful self, a good healer and a bad fighter. The rooms and furniture were all very reflective of ancient Korea, with paintings on the walls of old waterspeakers and the ancestors of all elementals. Syaoran found himself reading the descriptions and poems to see if they were the same as the ones he knew instead of listening to what was important.

" Well, we would not have a reason to have one, since we cannot use it," Ritsuko pointed out, " And the other one—geez, you are an elemental, aren't you?" She actually frowned a little. Syaoran raised his hand and allowed a few sparks to fly off his fingers. " That's a very…explosive element, I'll give you that."

Syaoran turned his attention back to the paintings. The Water Lord was not one of them, just like in his world, and just like in his world next to the paintings the windows showed a mist outside that looked cool and refreshing. It was one of those meadow mists, where the grass is covered with cool dew and the air feels light and cold and clean. He used to practice his sword out there, when he had the heart, or when the others drag him out. The famed Qigong master, they say, so he showed them what he was made of in a friendly way. Those were good times…the thought made him pause. He really had been quite an ingrate, come to think of it. The waterspeakers had been nothing if not welcoming ever since he had arrived, and he had been nothing except depressed. He really should change his attitude.

He was still extremely glad that this world's Chul was not here.

" Well, we'd need to use something from the other Li's world to locate it," Ritsuko pointed out, referring to Syaoran, " Maybe your shirt, or hair, or something. And then I can ask Ichiro, once the waterspeakers get him here."

The waterspeakers seem to be having a tough time with that. Ichiro still had not arrived, and right now they could not do anything.

" Well, while we wait, you guys can go explore a little." Ritsuko looked up at the air. " It should be a while before Chul comes back, so you kids can go amuse yourselves."

Sakura instantly grabbed Li's hand, smiling radiantly. " Come on Syaoran-kun! I want to see what Korean art is like."

Syaoran ignored that, instead deciding to go see if there were no other familiar faces to be found. Behind him, Yue considered him thoughtfully.

" There is something very dark about this one." He said to Kero. " I wonder what world he came from."

" Egh probably just another one of those emo kids." Kero scoffed. " How bad could things have been, anyway?"

oO

" This place is very dismal." Sakura decided.

The fact that shadowmasters were masters of shadow should have implied that they liked shadow just as much. A lot of it. Which meant their haven was fully encased in darkness.

" Don't use your cards yet." Dan suggested. " It will attract attention. Remember, you're supposed to be shadowmasters yourselves." Which was not hard. The Void Card, as it appeared, took care of that very easily. Once Sakura summoned it it cloaked her aura and gave her control of the shadows like any other shadowmaster. Of course, the Void Card, being a sorcerer card, was no match for a shadowmaster when it really comes to a battle of wills, but as long as no one suspected her of being a fake, no one should challenge her use of the shadows. Not to mention, she had five rebellious teenagers on her side.

Just as Dan warned her, they heard a loud voice.

" You brats!" A man's voice thundered, " What are you five up to this time?"

" Nothing, Erledine," Teresa answered sweetly. Sakura wondered if she was going to give them away and suddenly felt panicky. What if she had been too trusting?

" We just found a new friend, is all." Without warning, Akil had lifted Sakura, who could barely contain a squeak.

" Hey!" Sakura cried, outraged by the bold act.

Oddly enough, this seemed to direct any suspicion toward the Card Mistress to the five teenagers. " What are you doing, kidnapping little shadowmasters? Put her down." An elderly woman stepped out into the lesser shadows. Sakura still could not see her, but the aura, thanks to the Void Card, was signal enough to show where she was. " There there, darling. This group, I tell you! You kids need more discipline. One of these days your antics will get you killed."

" But Maman—"

" No. We are to prepare for the ceremony. Good gracious what are you kids dressed in? Hurry up and change into more suitable clothes. Now dear," She took Sakura's hand, " Let's see where your family is so we can find a way to return you to them. I'm sure they're worried sick about you."

Sakura was so confused by what just happened that she could not respond. Did that gang really kidnap children frequently or something? Because the older shadowmasters did not seem surprised at all by her presence. They even expected her to be frightened.

_It's all up to my wits now._ Sakura thought. _I have to pretend that I am a shadowmaster, that I am lost, and I better not ask the wrong questions._

Not asking the wrong questions turned out to be not asking any at all. The shadowmasters gave her milk and cookies without really prompting her to talk, and were very good to her, making sure to talk in soft voices and telling her that she need not be afraid. She never spoke. And she had a good excuse. She had just been "kidnapped", and of course she is going to be shy. Not to mention, though she was able to understand everything that was said thanks to the Void Card, and the physical contact with the shadowmasters (just what does that card do anyway?) she did not know how to speak their language.

How is she to find Syaoran? Perhaps she can sneak out…or perhaps, she can send one of her cards by itself. It would be risky for the card, but not more risky than going herself and exposing herself.

First chance she had, she is going to release the Shadow Card. In the realm of shadowmasters, it stood less chance of being detected, not to mention it is more powerful here.

But she will have to wait until she is alone…

oO

" She's still not answering the phone."

By now everyone was just sitting around. The work they could do was already done, and all that remained was the firepower of the Sakura Cards. But lord knows where she is. Chul had gone from restless to almost resigned. He was tired.

Out of the sky something darted toward the ground. Muzha and Nezha went to meet it. It was a little deity soldier. They spoke for a while in low voices, before Nezha headed back to Chul.

" Even with Sakura it will probably be a case." Nezha related to Chul. " Barrier's blocked. Lee's doing."

Chul just stared at the two of them.

" They had a look over across the portal though," Muzha assured Chul, " Apparently Syaoran has found his way into your hold. Your other self's hold."

Chul considered this for a moment. " How did I treat him?"

" You are not there at the moment."

Chul hesitated again. " What kind of person am I?"

" Same as you are…well, probably a little more…" Nezha glanced at Muzha, " A little more explosive."

Chul paused again. " What are you doing?" He asked, referring to the blocked barrier."

" Breaking it down." Nezha replied. " We will remake it. But we are breaking it down for now."

" Alright." Chul held his head. " I feel sick."

Ritsuko silently reached over to heal him. Chul looked better afterwards, but he was a lot quieter now, in contrast to his irritability earlier.

" Syaoran's a god. Why can't he pop back?"

" He's still a child."

" I'm going to go take a nap." Chul suddenly said. Everyone gave him strange looks, but Chul ignored them all and left the room.

" I did not expect that." Eriol admitted, openly baffled.

" He wants to see if sleeping would connect him more with Syaoran." Ritsuko told everyone. " It's a chance."

" Huh." Ichiro and Matt groaned at the same time. " Nothing to do but wait now." Matt swore. " Hopefully that blasted Card Mistress realizes how many missed calls she's got."

Upstairs Chul threw himself on the bed. It had been a long time since he slept, and a longer time since he had slept without a small body curled at his side. He recalled how small Syaoran had been, a little bundle of heat and magic, his to cherish and his to protect. He remembered the sound of breathing along with his own. A child's breathing, small, fragile, miraculous. But all was silent now. Outside the wind blew and the cicadas called their last calls of the day.

He shut his eyes.

oO

Syaoran had found a very welcome turn of events.

" I thought I was going crazy for a while!" Nataku told him, " But then I realized I was not the one that was crazy. You doing okay?"

It was hard to distinguish this Li Nezha from the other Nezha, with the exception that since he was usually with the Japanese counterparts, the prince was usually referred to by his Japanese name rather than his Chinese one, which did not really matter because he responded to both. Happily for Syaoran, Nataku was just as welcoming as Meiling, with the exception, of course, that he could not possibly suggest Syaoran to remain.

" We have to get you out of here." The Trickster God told him severely. " Mind you, I would love to get to know you, but we cannot have two Li Syaoran's. That just does not fly."

Nataku's entrance brought to question the whole idea of the Jade Emperor, since the Jade Emperor was supposed to be Ruler of the Cosmos. Which implied there was only one, because Syaoran could not imagine someone like the god to share his power, even with his counterparts.

" There is most definitely only one Jade Emperor." Nataku had informed him when he asked about this. " And between you and me, he does not really do much. Gets all rattled when something happens and makes other people do the dirty work. It would be a piece of cake for him to just send you along back to your own world. You see him doing anything so far? I do not think so. It is because he enjoys people bowing at him and serving his every whim, but when it comes to actual responsibility…but I shan't say more."

Syaoran felt that he could understand the Jade Emperor. If in addition to dealing with thousands, if not millions or billions of different mortal realms, he also had to deal with different versions of deities like Nataku, just the very thought was overwhelming.

Meanwhile, the presence of the Father of Firespeakers drew the attention of the younger waterspeakers, come of whose counterparts Syaoran actually knew pretty well, like Bon-hwa. Nataku was very willing to let Syaoran take advantage of his own prestige to get reacquainted with everyone. Syaoran got along better than his counterpart, which made sense because Syaoran already knew them, in a way, even if they did not know him. And upon realizing he was " lost between dimensions", they forgave any liberties on Syaoran's part, especially once they realized he was a thunderspeaker, which excited a good number of them.

Ichiro still had not arrived, and Nataku made no move to do his work for him. Everyone wondered what was taking so long.

" He's hard to find, that's the problem." Ritsuko admitted. " He's only found when he wants to. Normally he's the one that finds me, not the other way around. He usually stays on top of things though, this is quite weird."

So everyone, quite tired of waiting, headed out to explore, with Kero who sniffed and grumbled and wondered how it was possible that all of the sudden the gaki was so popular. Though it made the other Li glare, it gave Syaoran a kind of thrill. He actually hopped a bit on his way out, although that was also to release some of his pent up nerves.

" Hey!" Nataku suddenly exclaimed as they entered the outdoors, " What is that?"

" Huh?" Syaoran looked at him, confused, before looking at what Nataku's gaze directed. " Oh."

The firespeaker was looking at his chou.

" Er…"

Predictably, once the waterspeaker youngsters learned that Syaoran and Nataku were "brothers", and that they both had the cloth, they started chanting and encouraging the two to duel each other.

Syaoran was at a loss. He was never even this bold with his own Nezha. Nataku had his own reasons to refuse though.

" Lightning versus fire. No joke who wins." He pointed out. " Not to mention, even with thousands of years of experience over you, there is no way either of us can avoid this being a death match. Our objective is to send him back to his own world, not the dead world." And that ended matters.

By this time another half an hour had passed. There was still no sign of Ichiro arriving, nor his escorts.

" I will give him another fifteen minutes." Nataku declared. " After which I will personally hunt him out and drag him over here."

During the fifteen minutes Meiling found it necessary to explain to Syaoran all the details of what happened to Li and Sakura of this world as she knew it. She talked about how Sakura ran after Li to the airport and gave him a bear, which he named Sakura, and she had promised to name hers Syaoran. Syaoran thought that should have been enough to relate that she liked him back, considering _he_ never even got that far, but apparently Meiling had not been satisfied with that answer and had dragged her cousin back to Tomoeda so Sakura could properly tell him her true feelings, and for some reason Sakura had unintentionally agreed with her. This world's Sakura then proceeded to admit that for some reason, even though she knew Syaoran liked her, she found it extremely awkward to reveal to him that she liked him back, which had resulted in numerous scenes reminiscent of when Syaoran had tried to confess to her. In the end, it was the Void Card that saved them all, and the Hope Card which Syaoran never heard of because if his own Sakura ever created something like that she never saw fit to tell him, although Li assured him that he did not know about any additional Sakura Card until after it decided to help Sakura rather late in the battle with the Void.

Of course, Meiling also had a lot to say about the Void Card. For one thing, how on earth did Hiirigaziwa forget he had an extra card?

" He said the memory did not surface until after it woke." Sakura explained to her.

Convenient, Syaoran though, and feeling troubled, wondered if his own Sakura is about to deal with the same thing, assuming she is not already.

Nataku, impatient, darted off to find Ichiro. The group continued to talk because they had no clue how long it was going to take. In the end it was not that long—Nataku arrived with a very flustered and baffled Watanabe Ichiro who looked like he was dragged away from vacation.

" I'll say!" Ritsuko scolded. " Where have you been?" Even though it was very obvious.

" I am human!" Ichiro protested. He looked at Syaoran and he looked at Li. " Something's not right here."

" You bet it isn't." Ritsuko exclaimed. " Didn't His Highness tell you?"

" How?" Ichiro protested. " He popped in front of me, said he needed me to come with him, next thing I know I'm falling from the sky with this guy and landed here."

Yue did not react, but Kero gave Nataku an amused glance.

" Did you bring your lasin board?" Li asked critically.

" Don't you have one?"

" Mine is not powerful enough."

" Well someone took me off in a hurry and I didn't have a chance to grab one." Ichiro looked at Nataku reproachfully. " What's going on here?"

They explained.

" Well, I know a way without the lasin board that we can figure out where you came from." Ichiro told Syaoran. " Nice little bit of witchcraft I learned from a dear Incan girl." For some reason this earned him a smack on the head from Ritsuko. " Ahem. It's a bit messy though. I'll need some of your blood."

Which was an electrifying experience for Ichiro. " Ow! How come you kids don't just _know _how to control your powers—like ducklings or alligators or something."

" Pikachu, anyone?" Ritsuko grinned. Ichiro glared at her. " Well you deserved it." She answered. " For keeping us so long. We were looking for you for two hours almost."

From then on, finding the world was easy. Getting to it was the hard part.

" I was never informed of this." Nataku was about as calm and angry as Syaoran had ever seen him when Ichiro had tried to cast the spell with Sakura's help and the portal refused to budge, prompting the god to go to the heavens to inquire the issue. " Apparently the shadowmasters on your side decided to fuse the portal. I think they are trying to break through."

Syaoran stared. Everyone back home knew already? Dimension crossing was not exactly common.

" Well, at least if we help," Nataku continued, " It should go by fast. And then we build the portal up as quickly as possible to prevent any more crossings. I am going to head to the deities to issue out orders, but it will take a bit longer than a few hours. In fact, it might take days. So everyone just stay put for a while until I come back." With that, and a burst of flame, Nataku disappeared.

Meiling used this opportunity to tell him everything else that happened in this world and compare details with Syaoran.


	10. Chapter 9

Shadowdance

Chapter 9

Sakura's dilemma was quickly solved when the teenagers proceeded to create as much catastrophe as frequently as was possible in the span of five hours. This seemed to be a common occurrence, since the adult shadowmasters regarded these events with much frustration but very little surprise. Feeling deeply thankful for their generosity (she could not imagine they would get away with all this unpunished), Sakura began her investigation while the adults were preoccupied.

The shadowmaster system reminded her of an anthill. It was just as dark and just as maze-like and complicated, with special nurseries for the young ones where schooling and nurturing commenced, and every shadowmaster was designated a responsibility reminiscent of a communist society, with the difference being that it actually works for shadowmasters. Had she gone through all the halls herself she would most certainly have gotten lost, but with the Shadow Card and the Void Card cloaking it (she still had no idea what it does, she was just using instinct and a bit of trial and error), she avoided that hardship and instead had the card search through all the rooms undetected.

Four of the five shadowmasters caught up with her half an hour after all the chaos finished ensuing, grins on their faces for a job well done.

" Find anything?" Dan asked.

Sakura shook her head. The card has not returned yet.

" Hm." Teresa frowned.

Sakura looked among them. " Where is Akil?"

" Slaving away under Hunko." Eudidya replied. Sakura had a feeling that was not a real name. " Anyways, noble act, freed us up to check on you. Doing okay so far?"

" Not found out." Sakura muttered under her breath so eavesdroppers would not hear.

" Walls have ears." The boy approved. " Well, keep us updated."

The four of them turned around and suddenly froze. Sakura looked from behind one of them and realized there was another shadowmaster standing in their way.

" Lord Senyan." All of the sudden the teenagers were grave and they all bowed respectfully. Sakura was so astonished she did not think to do the same, which did not matter because she was behind them anyway.

_Does he suspect? _Sakura thought fearfully. Were the teenagers too over the top with their antics? Is he here to interrogate them? To interrogate her? Did they find Yue and Kero outside the clan area, where they were waiting? With a frightful clench of her heart she realized the man looked very much like Syaoran. Except even at his cruellest, Syaoran never looked so…sinister.

" What have we here," Lee began silkily, " You four have been unusually restless today. I could hear the commotion from my own private quarters.

The tension in the air was practically tangible. In fact, with the shadows that covered everything, it probably was to the shadowmasters. Sakura knew that while the teenagers might have caused a lot of trouble, visits from the Lord of Shadowmasters did not occur often.

" We did not mean it, sir." Lea bowed her head meekly. " It just…happens."

" Just happens, indeed." Lee moved through them to approach Sakura, who by then was trembling in terror. " And I suppose _this _just happened too," He sneered.

For a good measure, he even placed his hand on Sakura's head. His hand was covered with a glove, and it felt terrible to the poor child.

At this, the teenagers had nothing to say.

" I have had enough of this!" Lee suddenly exploded, jerking his hand off Sakura. " You," He hissed in a menacingly low voice, " Are to return her to her clan, right now, right this instant. And you are to return to receive punishment. And don't even _think _of escaping because I will send scouts to find you and they _will, _and if you dread your upcoming sentence _you will dread it far worse if you try to escape._ Am I understood?"

New panic raced through Sakura's veins. The card! It has not returned yet! She cannot leave without the card!

" But my lord, the light—"

" Should be no trouble for you, as you have gone out before during this time, I heard?"

" But the child." Teresa insisted, proving that the teenagers survived their antics for a reason. The statement made Lee pause, and he looked at Sakura with eyes like that of a hungry hyena.

" I am sure you will take good care of her." His voice was laden with a dark threat, one that forbid any more protestations.

And then, at the worst possible moment, the Shadow Card zoomed back to her, whipping through the room, slicing at Lee's face. It settled in her hand innocently enough and informed her that whatever had happened to Syaoran, the boy is not here.

Sakura looked back up at Lee's malicious eyes and her stomach plummeted. She withdrew the Void Card and released the Ghot. Surprised, Lee was forced to dodge. Sakura yanked at one of the young shadowmasters.

" Come on!" She cried, as the Ghot kept Lee busy. The four shadowmasters bolted for it. Lee suddenly sliced at the Ghot Card with a sword that appeared from nowhere in his hand, and the card returned to her, wounded. The Shadow Lord charged at her and Sakura blocked with her staff. It nearly gave under the dark energy. She wasted no time summoning the Sword Card.

" You are in my domain, Card Mistress." Lee smirked at her, the grin malevolent and black. " Fools, all of you are fools."

Sakura cared very little for the drama. Boldened by desperation, she struck at him, her blow guided by the wisdom of the card. Lee blocked and the shadows around Sakura writhed as if alive and swooped upon her. Panicking, she did not even look at the next card, simply focusing on releasing any random one and hoping for the best.

Out popped the Sweet card, and with an audible pop Lee was transformed into a gingerbread man. Sakura gaped at the results of the spell for a moment. Then, the bread blackened as if molding, before reforming into a dark unidentifiable shape. Sakura knew Lee had broke through as the Sweet Card sailed into her hand.

Soon Lee was standing before her again, and Sakura could hear the other shadowmasters rushing their way. But the Sweet Card gave her an idea. She could not transform the shadowmasters, but she could transform herself. Whipping out the Little Card, Sakura struck it just as Lee slashed towards her. The shadows themselves rose to hide her. She allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief. Then she considered her options.

What now? Syaoran was not here, according to the Shadow Card. She had to get out of here.

The other shadowmasters arrived, and she heard their loud voices echoing around in the darkness. It was a different experience, she reflected, being so small. It should be easy for her to get out now, they cannot see nor sense her, now that her aura's signature has reduced as well. The question is how to get out of here.

The Shadow Card knew, it had been all around this anthill of a place. Pulsing a little with magic, it offered to take her.

Sakura agreed. But as she heard the loud voices talk, she suddenly had an idea. She was in the perfect position to eavesdrop. They cannot find her, and even when they do it would be hard for them to attack her. She could always turn them into gingerbread men…

Maybe she could figure out where Syaoran is before she takes her leave.

oO

After Li had lost his temper with Nataku and demanded to know why it was so hard for immortals to fix a problem mortals caused, he and Sakura headed out again, while Ichiro went to help Nataku and the deities, leaving Kero, Yue, Syaoran, and Meiling together with the waterspeakers. Syaoran, feeling a little nostalgic about his old life, wanted to spend as much time as possible with a relative he never had, and Meiling was happy to oblige.

With much incredulity, this time he learned that in fact, though Meiling and Syaoran had been betrothed since they were young, the two of them did not actually know this and had believed it was all Meiling's idea. He was astounded that his other self had agreed to such a thing, and in fact went along with it for at least five years.

" I was crazy." Meiling laughed. " A crazy girl. But hey, it's what makes me interesting."

Syaoran assured her that he agreed.

Then it was Syaoran's turn. He had given her a run through of all the major events, but Meiling was curious about the little things. Was Sakura still good at gymnastics? Was Kero still such a jerk? To which Syaoran had difficulty answering with the guardians present. Meiling was relentless though. For all her growth throughout the years, she was still impatient enough not to consider the position she would put Syaoran with both Kero and Yue listening. At length she finally got Syaoran to admit (and it seemed like she could make Li do whatever she wanted as well)) that Kero had become a lot kinder ever since Syaoran moved away, and that his version of Yue had offered to take care of him, and when that was not possible, had been a kind ear whenever Syaoran needed it.

These, of course, made everyone except Meiling extremely uncomfortable.

Ichiro dropped back. " I don't like the shadowmasters in your world." He declared. " By the way, Eriol called. Hrm." He handed out his phone to Syaoran, who stared at it for a minute.

" Moshi moshi?"

" Hi…er, Syaoran-san. Hm. Which one are you?"

" Uh…I'm the lost one."

" Oh. Good. Can you give me an update?"

Syaoran gave him the update.

" Ah…I see." Eriol paused.

" I am baffled myself." Syaoran admitted. " They are taking so long. It should not be so hard to reverse what the…what the shadowmasters did, should it?"

" That is a tricky question to answer." Eriol told him. " It depends on what they did. Some problems are easier to fix than others. And elementals and shadowmasters are almost gods themselves. They have the immortality and such. But if the prince is not complaining, I would say just sit tight for now. They are probably also keeping track of how much longer you can stay here without merging."

" Merging with myself here?"

" Hai." Eriol replied gravely. " If that happens you will disappear off your timeline. Which means you will never exist."

" How does that work?" Syaoran asked, confused.

" It is complicated." Eriol replied. " Actually, it has a bit to do with magic and how the worlds are ordered, but it actually has mostly to do with very advanced math. The shadowmasters are either very anxious to get rid of you, or extremely anxious to get your firespeakers back. Although I am a bit dumbfounded at their methods. I think erasing you completely would be a bit…well, extreme, for their purposes."

Syaoran sighed.

" I am sorry Syaoran." Eriol apologized. " That was callous of me."

" Iie, it's fine." Syaoran held his head. " Should be used to my situation by now."

" If your world is anything like this, you can always talk to me there." Eriol assured him. " No matter how busy I know I would be."

Syaoran allowed a chuckle to escape. " Actually, I did most of my crying to Yue." He forgot Yue was still there with him. " I should be fine though. I have a lot of friends. It makes me feel so ungrateful that I'm still sobbing about my life." But there was, undeniably, that dark heavy weight on his heart that, no matter what his positive thinking, refused to go away. Meiling looked at him strangely, surprised that he was so open.

" I do hope we do not think so," Eriol told him wisely, " And I say you are not as ungrateful as you think yourself to be. Just your friends' efforts are not enough at the moment, right? There is nothing to feel bad for about that. Sometimes all the friends in the world cannot match the help of time."

" Hm." Syaoran was oddly comforted by that. He felt a twist in his gut as he suddenly remembered, since a long while, how matters had been between him and Chul. He hoped Chul was not still angry…perhaps time could cure that as well?

" Take it easy." Eriol instructed him. " You're not involved in the gate breaking, are you?"

" Iie." Nataku insisted he stay.

" Good." Eriol said strangely. " Try not to use your powers. There is only one thunderspeaker in this world. Right now most of this dimension has not sensed your presence, but flaunting your powers would shorten the time you can safely stay here."

" I never flaunted my powers!" Syaoran protested indignantly. _I flaunted qi a few times with the Koreans, but not magic!_

" I know." Eriol laughed. " But, just in case you get frustrated." He said goodbye and hung up.

Suddenly there was a loud call about food being ready. Oddly enough Syaoran was the only one who heard it. It took him a while to realize the waterspeakers had been calling out telepathically.

_Hey, _he called back, _How come I can hear you?_

Interested, the waterspeakers admitted they did not know, that Ritsuko had been planning to fetch them, but since he heard could he go and grab everyone else so they could all eat?

Syaoran suddenly had a small thing to look forward to back home.

oO

Chul woke.

He lay there for a moment, frantically remembering what he saw last before he woke. Syaoran was staring at him fearfully, for some reason. There was blood all around…whose blood? And when he reached out to the boy, the child backed away, shuddering. There was a loud roaring in Chul's ears, but all was silent in the dream. And all was dark, with Syaoran the only one in the light…or was he the light? Wearing white, and his skin glowing…

Did he see Syaoran through another's eyes? Is that what Syaoran is feeling right now? But as he reached deep inside to sense Syaoran, he found no sense of alarm. The boy was a bit restless and impatient, but not afraid. In fact, the feeling was bordering contentment, the sense of warmth and fullness…

He's eating. Chul knew this somehow. Not certain how, but he knew it somehow. In fact, after waking up he could practically feel the boy's actual hunger. There was also a faint feeling hidden under that, like he was waiting for something.

_Of course he is waiting._ Chul thought. _He is waiting for the portal to open. _He wondered if the dream had failed and it was not really a premonition. At the moment he would gladly take that.

" Have a good sleep?" Ritsuko asked when he went downstairs. " Did you learn anything?"

" No." But come to think of it, his connection with Syaoran did seem stronger somehow. " Yes. He is eating."

Ritsuko stared at him. " That's pretty specific." She blinked. " Huh. You think he can sense you?"

Chul actually did not think of that. He closed his eyes and focused on Syaoran's gradual sense of fullness. Without thinking he sent all his hope and worry into that point.

There was a moment with no result, then a bright burst in response, young and fresh, a mixture of surprise, delight, and relief. Then a wonder, uncertainty. Chul sent him a feeling of assurance, and tried to use the sudden connection to establish an even stronger one, one where they could perhaps trade thoughts? Was that possible across dimensions?

But Syaoran was suddenly distracted, and the boy's own feelings receded a bit. Chul withdrew to allow the boy some room.

" Well?" Ritsuko asked.

" He got it." Chul allowed a smile. " He got it, and he sent one back."

" Hm." Ritsuko frowned. " Were you able to do this earlier?"

Chul shook his head. " Was not so sensitive."

The sky suddenly reddened once, and they sensed Nezha's furious aura as it receded. Ritsuko gave him a baffled look, and the two of them headed outside.

The red coloring pulsed, and the children murmured and pointed.

" What the blazes is he doing?" Chul frowned.

With an ear-splitting crack, something bright and hot, like a meteor, fell from the sky and crashed on the ground, exploding. Chul barely had time to shield the young ones. As the smoke dissipated, the older waterspeakers rushed over to the fallen figure.

" Your Highness!" They called, and Chul, after scanning over the children to make sure they were unharmed, followed the other waterspeakers.

Prince Nezha rose to his feet, barely singed, but very ruffled. He glanced up at the sky while dusting himself off.

" Are you alright?" Ritsuko asked.

" I am fine." Nezha grumbled, as the deities emerged from the sky and landed near him, asking if he was alright. " I am fine!" He repeated resentfully.

" What happened?" Chul asked.

" Ugh." Nezha pulled his hair out of his face. Muzha appeared out of the sky and landed next to his brother silently.

" Well?" Chul demanded.

" We do not know." Muzha frowned. " Brother, did you see…?"

" No." Nezha shook his head. " It popped out of nowhere."

" What just happened?" Chul interrupted.

" Something attacked him." Muzha explained. " We did not see what it was."

" Shadow?" Ritsuko guessed. But Nezha shook his head.

" Was black, but was not a shadowmaster. More of a beast. And it had a really sharp horn."

" Their beast?" Chul cocked an eyebrow.

" Shadowmasters don't have beasts." Ritsuko frowned.

" It's not shadow!" Nezha sighed. " I said it was black. Good grief! You!" He called to several of the deities, " Come with me to inspect what is blocking the portal."

" It's guarding the portal?" One of the children murmured. Chul ignored them.

" I did not say guard!" Nezha's firewheels blasted into existence with a puff of fire and he zoomed up incredibly quickly, followed by a group of flustered deities. The air shimmered when a sudden wave of angry heat pulsed down, which was odd in of itself, but Chul did not comment on Nezha's mood.

" Should I go have a look?" He asked out loud.

" I doubt you can do anything." Ritsuko answered. " They ought to handle it. They're gods. About time they actually did something for a change."


	11. Chapter 10

Shadowdance

Chapter 10

The shadowmasters meticulously searched everywhere, not sure what Sakura could have done to escape, but not sure where she was either. At length, after about an hour of waiting for them to do something other than looking for her, Sakura smiled when Lee finally lost his patience and aborted the search. With some complicated magic he raised some barriers for a private meeting with his advisers, but Sakura managed to slip through before the barriers sealed all sound and information. Huddling, actually, on top of Lee's boot (several times she nearly fell in), she listened in as Lee reluctantly began discussing other important matters.

As impulsive as Lee had seemed before, when he first attacked Syaoran and chased Yue practically all around the neighborhood, the shadowmaster was not as spontaneous as Sakura had first assumed. He was different from Hiko. Hiko seemed almost childish compared to Syaoran's father; the firespeaker was overly ambitious and excited to get rid of the only threat to his legacy, and all that really made him a threat was Lady Jin. Lee however, had twice their cunning combined and was apparently far older.

Apparently, Syaoran's first attack was thwarted by Yue's determination. For some reason Lee had not predicted Yue would rescue Syaoran. As he spoke more with the other shadowmasters about the hall, Sakura took a brief moment to recall what would give the lord such an idea.

At a certain point, one of the shadowmasters left, leaving only Lee and another shadowmaster, a man with a nose like a hawk and beady little eyes, in the quarter.

" My lord," The way the man said it sounded like the two of them were on more casual terms than the rest, " Are you sure it will work the way you say? Dimensions are a tricky thing."

" So you have said."

" Look, just because our calculations say he will merge with his other self over there does not mean he will. And how do you think he will merge? Are you sure you would not just get rid of that world's Li Syaoran instead?"

" He is the intruder."

" The dimension might like him."

Furrowing her brow, Sakura tried to understand exactly what they were talking about.

" There is no chance of that."

" You know there is." The shadowmaster insisted. " If he substitutes his self in that world he will not only still have a chance to return, he might even draw your powers to his dead father in that realm, making him shadowmaster."

" Shadowmasters do not exist there."

" Neither does a second thunderspeaker. If you are going to get rid of a thunderspeaker here, you will have to be prepared to sacrifice your own matching powers."

" There will be no sacrifices, except for him."

" It is risky! You have to realize—you do not know what that child might do there, what influences he will have over the plan. He is beyond our control, the only thing we can do is prevent the deities from rescuing him on time. Other than that all we can do is pray—he may actually twist it so that instead of shrouding this world in darkness, this dimension is forced to get rid of all shadowmasters. What then?"

" As I said, he is the intruder. And no stable system will allow intruders to have say. The dimension will kill him off first. Once that happens we can then move freely."

" And if it does not kill him?"

" As long as he does not return, he cannot affect us that much." Lee replied. " The world will destroy him as soon as he does too much, and what little he is allowed to use will not tip the balance against us. I will not have another bureaucracy running simply because some overly-ambitious firespeaker decided to challenge a prophecy. The magical world is a republic. It is far more important to eliminate any chances that a thunderspeaker should assume more power than the rest. They have left us alone for now because of our magic type, but the thunderspeaker can seek us out and destroy us much more easily than you can whine. Go at once, see to it that the beast sits at the portal, and I want no more complaints about the plan. We have planned too long in case the firespeakers lose to risk doubting ourselves."

The shadowmaster looked woefully at the lord before bowing silently and taking his leave.

Huh. Sakura blinked. So Syaoran is apparently in another dimension? She considered her options. Lee wanted to prevent a bureaucracy? How is getting rid of a thunderspeaker going to prevent that? And what about this beast that is sitting in the portal?

The entire situation did not make sense. But then, she can hardly expect the Lord of Shadowmasters to recite a plan he probably already explained numerous times already. She would have to piece the things together and fill in wherever she can.

So Syaoran is in another dimension. The other shadowmaster said something about merging, replacing, the dimension liking him. Obviously, Lee wanted Syaoran out of the way—that went without saying. She thought about what Lee said in the end. The shadowmasters had been left alone…because of their magic type. They are roguish, that is for sure. But they are afraid of the thunderspeaker being able to destroy them. That made some sense too, actually, with shadow being, well, shadow, and thunder being essentially light in its purest and deadliest form. If Lee was so afraid of that, why did he not take advantage of Syaoran being his son?

Why did he father Syaoran anyway? And according to Eriol, he did not father his sisters…how did that work?

Baffled now, Sakura continued to think as Lee started pacing. So Lee wanted Syaoran to either merge with the other dimension or be destroyed. He seemed to be pretty sure that the other Syaoran would not get _this _Syaoran's powers. They also mentioned the other Syaoran's father being dead…this is giving her an outright headache. Sakura rubbed her temples with one hand while grabbing a shoelace with the other.

The other shadowmaster…what was he worried about again? That the other Syaoran might not even get replaced, that her Syaoran would take over. So it was not so much eliminating Syaoran as it was eliminating the thunderspeaker…how do dimensions work anyway? And the thunderspeaker assuming more power than the rest…the magical world is a republic…

The magical world is a republic.

Sakura thought quickly. What if Hiko _did _win? Then _he _would be some sort of lord, right? The prophecy seemed to say as much, and Lee knew about it, apparently. And since it involved the descendants of Clow, perhaps Lee had gone there in hopes of siring some kind of knight. He would never have imagined that his son would become a thunderspeaker instead of a shadowmaster, and perhaps left when, disappointed, he discovered Syaoran had no unusual abilities.

_I am totally grabbing at loose straws here. _Sakura thought ruefully, but it was all she had to go on.

It made some sense. Hiko was definitely older than Syaoran, which meant that there had to be some kind of clue as to who he was when he was born. That gives Lee some time to decide on fathering his knight. Well it still did not make sense how he managed to make Yelan believe he was her husband all along. Some kind of shadow magic? Even Eriol seemed to shudder at it when she had brought it up, back in Tomoeda. What if shadow magic consisted more than just black shadows. What if it was memory, the soul, the mind? He could have confused Yelan. And then when Syaoran turned out to not only be a child of special abilities, but the enemy of the shadowmasters, Lee realized he had created another threat. So now he wants to get rid of it. Why does he not just kill Syaoran?

_Iie, none of this makes any sense. _Sakura decided. She had no basis to believe shadow magic could do anything to a person's memory. She felt, instinctively, however, that she was somehow on the right track. There was a reason Lee did not choose to kill Syaoran. Something must be preventing him, or there was a better alternative. Hm, the shadowmaster had mentioned that if Syaoran replaced the other Syaoran, Lee's shadow powers might go to the dead father…

Magic never followed the laws of conservation of mass before, but they seemed to have their own system, and granted, Sakura had never heard of magic _disappearing _by itself. It could apparently be used up, as it did with Yukito, and earlier when Syaoran had destroyed the fire demon the elementals all seemed to be affected when the fire magic had nowhere else to go. Supposing Lee wanted to get rid of his son. The other dimension would not take the thunder magic. But it has to go somewhere.

Crud, he wanted Syaoran's magic.

_What a roundabout way of doing things!_ Suddenly certain she was right, and frustrated because she had no clue _why, _or _how _he planned to accomplish such a thing by sending syaoran to another dimensionnot to mention the motive should have been the most obvious thing in the world because Kami knows, everyone on this freaking planet wanted power, Sakura suddenly jumped from Lee's boot. The barrier lets things out, keeping only sound in, so Sakura slipped away easily. And using the Shadow Card she made her way out of the shadow coven.

oO

Talking or interacting with himself did not start out so weird, but as time went on Syaoran began to realize it was distinctly odd to see Li when he was not looking at a mirror. There were times when they would think the exact same thing, say the exact same thing, and it was starting to become more and more frequent. Often times when they talk to each other it was hard to start a conversation precisely because they already knew what the other was about to say, the answer to that, and what was to follow. Things became especially awkward when Sakura was introduced to the picture, and the poor Card Mistress did not really know how to wrap her mind around the fact that yes, both Syaorans cared about her, but she could only rightfully return the feelings of one of them.

It was not so hard to see the danger of him staying too long either. The synchronized thinking was not the only evidence. Syaoran found himself getting more and more tired, whereas Li seemed to be getting more and more energetic. Syaoran wondered if this was what Yukito felt like when he was fading.

And then, of course, there was the frustration that he had to sit and wait like he had been doing pretty much for the last few months ever since the whole thunderspeaker fiasco started, while everyone else did their best to save him. Even Li, who had very few powers that can actually help. His counterpart had the decency to occasionally keep him company for a while, disregarding the whole creepiness of talking to himself in favor of maintaining Syaoran's sanity.

Happily, Syaoran still had Chul. He was so relieved to feel his guardian's concern for him that night during dinner. Chul, on his part, seemed determined to maintain the contact as long as both were able. The connection seemed to be stuck at emotions for now, no thoughts could really be transmitted, but the protectiveness Syaoran was feeling lessened the weight in his heart a bit.And while it mentally tired him to keep trying to connect to his guardian, Syaoran found it seemed to keep him from fading away from existence completely. He wondered if it was coincidence.

No, nothing with magic is ever a coincidence. Though whoever planned out that he should have this link has been very helpful. At least Syaoran could feel somewhat safe.

But there he was, waiting around.

" Hey, think of it this way," Meiling soothed him, " Once you get back you can start doing things again."

Well, not really, since he still needed Chul's protection as long as his…as long as Lee was alive, but at least he could practice magic again. Somewhat. And her comment, especially since it came from her, reminded Syaoran that in fact Meiling probably was more used to his situation, and was probably fated to remain used to it. " I'm sorry." He apologized.

" Hm?" Meiling gave him a puzzled look. " About what?"

Deciding to change the topic, Syaoran mumbled, " I am really bad company these days, huh."

" Not really." Meiling gave him a sweet smile. " I think you're handling it pretty well, actually.

Well, of course. After all the nonsense that has been happening to him, crossing dimensions just looked like one out of many misfortunes.

At about three in the morning, everyone who had gone to the portal to help, including Sakura and Li, returned, all looking very put out.

" There's some beast at the portal and it's just sitting there." Ritsuko explained, wiping her forehead with a towel. Her clothes were drenched.

" It was just sitting there?" Syaoran asked.

" Hai." Li replied, scowling. " It was not even doing anything. It was all black. Which side do you think it came from?"

" Theirs, presumably." Ichiro cocked his head. " We did not start this issue, at any rate."

" Why would some beast be able to stop you?" Meiling asked.

" Because, upon inspection," Ichiro replied wryly, " It is not alive. Which means we cannot kill it. And unfortunately, none of Kinomoto's erasing, nullifying, or what's it spells were able to work on its very black and polished exterior, let alone get it out of the portal."

" It's wedged." Sakura added.

" Only thing that seems to be helping is a bit of qigong," Li told the thunderspeaker, " Seems to punch it in a little, but I can't keep doing that forever, not to mention the results are pretty pathetic, to say the least."

" Huh." Syaoran sighed, reaching instinctively toward his Chul's presence, warm and healing. " What do we do now?"

" You stay put. Don't panic." Sakura told him, not that Syaoran was panicking. " We'll get you home."

Feeling tired again, Syaoran did not respond.

" Advanced math," Ritsuko was talking to some of the elementals while drying her hair with a towel. Why she did not just evaporate the water, Syaoran did not know. Perhaps it was the act of drying with a towel? " How the blazes does math have to do with anything?"

" Dear, math has to do with everything." One of the elementals replied, with a thick accent. " He actually has a decent time, six months, if not more. His bond with his current guardian is pretty strong. That Lord Chul must be fighting tooth and nail to maintain the connection."

" You know about the connection?" Syaoran asked.He had just known about it yesterday!

" We can see it," Sakura informed him, causing Syaoran, bewildered, to spin around in a circle looking for some tangible thread, or whatever it was, that the connection could appear as.

" You can see it?" Syaoran exclaimed.

" Well, yeah, it was always there," Sakura replied, " It's how we tell the two of you apart."

Syaoran suddenly realized that in fact that made sense. He did wear different clothing than Li, but sometimes that did not account for how they recognized him, like when both were sitting on the sofa and only their heads were visible to the perspective of the viewer.

" It kind of thickened recently." Sakura squinted at what Syaoran assumed to be the connection. " You can't see it?"

" Well, iie, not really."

" Hoe!" Sakura blinked. " Well, it's there. It looks like a thick string, very blue. Look like water keeps running through it."

Made sense, Syaoran supposed.

" We deduced it was between you and the Water Lord." Meiling told Syaoran. " Because the Water Lord is the best candidate. And Prince Nataku keeps talking about Chul on the other side. Which reminds me, when is _our _Chul coming back?"

" He can stay for an infinite time then!" They heard someone yell. " He'd have to at this rate?"

" What's that?" Li called out.

Nataku stormed over, furious. " The connection." He jabbed at the air, and Syaoran felt a resounding pain, sharp and cutting, in his chest, the echoes of it coming from his Chul as well. " The connection made the beast. It wasn't blocking the portal. It was keeping it open."

" But it was black!" Said an elemental.

" That doesn't matter!" Nataku waved his hands. " The point is we can't remove the beast. If we remove the beast we risk closing the portal and we can't open it."

" Why can't we open it again?" Asked a deity Syaoran did not recognize.

" We may, but we might not." Nataku shook his head.

" Drill a hole through the beast then?" Ritsuko suggested.

Li and Syaoran winced.

" Nezha, don't jab the connection again," Syaoran told the firespeaker while he was still pacing, " It hurts. Like hell."

" Oh," Nataku gave him a sheepish look, " Sorry about that. But the fact remains. Beast is the connection."

" Who put it there?"

" I don't know!"

The yelling made Syaoran uneasy, and he sensed reassurance waft through the connection between him and Chul. He had no clue where the connection everyone else saw actually was, but when Nataku stepped forward again he instinctively ducked to the side.

" I won't poke at it again, I'm sorry." Nataku apologized. The firespeaker was reining in his temper now. " We'll figure this out, alright kid?"

But then Meiling's earlier question was a premonition.

" The Water Lord has returned!" Came the announcement from the front of the mansion. Everyone fell silent. It was a silence that was both morbid and distressing.

Syaoran really did not want to see this version of Chul.


	12. Chapter 11

Shadowdance

Chapter 11

The elementals were much more in awe of this Park Chul than at home. The magicians from Tomoeda at first did not know what to do, and remained in the sitting room listening as the speakers consulted with Park.

Lord Chul was not listening, and the elementals were not being very clear on their part either, so when the Water Lord entered the sitting room he was not expecting visitors. He froze, his eyes sharp and his face stern, his gray cloak pooling around him menacingly and a glimmer frozen on his headdress. His gaze was at first directed at Sakura, who stepped back timidly. Then, ever so slowly, he turned his gaze around upon every stranger in the room, including the new elementals like Prince Nataku.

All this was done in absolute, deafening silence.

" We tried to tell you sire—"

" Tried!" The lord barked, his eyes flashing in anger. " You call that bout of muttering an attempt at _trying?_" He then looked at Syaoran, his expression unreadable.

Panic had settled in Syaoran's gut, which had made his own guardian on the other side very uneasy. He made the mistake of locking gazes with this world's Park and could no longer turn his eyes away. The horrible eyes, icy blue and piercing, seemed to cut right into his soul. Though Park had only looked at him for a second, it felt to Syaoran like it was an eternity before the Water Lord finally turned his gaze away, to look at Li, and look at the space next to Syaoran, following some invisible path to the wall.

" What is this?" He demanded.

Ritsuko was the most comfortable around Chul back at home. Here, this version of Ritsuko was the same, though that was not saying much. Nevertheless, she was the one that answered.

" That boy, Li Syaoran, he is from another dimension. The shadowmasters sent him here."

" Why is he _here?"_ Park looked at the other magicians, at Sakura, at Yukito, at Li, who met his gaze bravely but was a little cowed as well.

" He is a thunderspeaker." Ritsuko replied. " We have to get him back as soon as possible."

" A thunderspeaker?" Park scowled hideously, the angry snarl contorting his normally handsome features. " What are you playing at, woman?"

" He is a thunderspeaker in his dimension." Ritsuko answered a little meekly. " We are trying to get him back. It won't take long, I swear."

" I don't care how long it takes." Park barked. " I want them out!" He whirled upon Ritsuko. " What were you thinking? We have enough to worry about here!"

Syaoran was so terrified he felt like he was going to faint. This world's Park Chul was so much darker than the one he knew, more dangerous, more frightening. Instinct coiled within him, telling him to flee, to defend, to fight, and before he knew it a harsh spark flashed from his fingertips.

Park whirled around at that, his harsh glare fierce upon Syaoran. " What was that," He hissed.

" You," Nataku strolled up to Park, " Need to work on your attitude."

It was almost funny—Nataku was only up to Park's armpit, dressed in rather sparse robes with a childish face and hands. Park regarded Nataku with a mixture of disbelief and contempt.

Syaoran felt the fear flowing from Chul's side of the connection and forced himself to calm. He could feel the bond waver a bit, Chul's presence fading slightly. Was it the spark? He was feeling even more tired now.

" What are you doing here," Park growled. " This is my domain."

" This is my world." Nataku returned. " I am in charge of the skies above your so-called _domain._"

" You are in charge of nothing."

Nataku's right hand flared red, and Park's left hand glowed a bright blue. They remained that way for a while, during which Kero floated to Syaoran's side. Then, simultaneously, the flares dimmed and extinguished, and Nataku turned around.

" You take care of that boy." Nataku turned his face back to look at Park. " Call him your salvation."

With a flutter of flame, the firespeaker disappeared.

Park turned his fearsome glare toward Syaoran and tightened his lips, like he was going to bare his teeth. Ritsuko suddenly moved into action.

" Would you like some supper, Lord Chul?" She asked.

oO

" About time you got out of there!" Kero was screaming at Sakura, " What the blazes were you doing down there?"

" Eavesdropping." Now that she had reception, Sakura wasted no time calling the Koreans on her cell phone. Her father may kill her later for making so many long-distance phone calls, but right now she hardly cared.

" All that to get his powers?" Ichiro, after Chul finished yelling at her, repeated dubiously. " That's a bit complicated if all he wanted were his powers."

Behind Ichiro, Sakura could hear murmurs as everyone in Korea discussed what Sakura had related. Instead of creating alarm, most of her report had created confusion.

" If he really wants to shroud the world in darkness Syaoran would stand in his way,"

" But it's not like he was able to shroud the world in darkness before the thunderspeaker woke."

" He mentioned something about republic?" Sakura offered, " Some bureaucracy? Apparently the shadowmasters were left alone, but thunderspeakers could easily hunt them out?"

" It sounds like offensive defense." Someone said.

" He gets Syaoran's powers," Ichiro muttered away from the phone, " Takes over the republic, Chul is only a match for him, he cannot beat him. And once Syaoran's powers go to Lee, Lee will crush Chul and take over. And right now Chul is more than a mere match for him because Chul can heal. If Chul never met Syaoran…"

" He would never unlock that potential." Ritsuko finished.

Sakura understood. It was explained to her, and she was there. Those awful nights and days when Syaoran rematerialized and had been unconscious, bruises appearing out of nowhere on his pale body, and Chul, looking as terrified as she had ever seen him, finally grabbing the boy and what he had thought to be a lost cause and sobbing that heart-wrenching cry that led to the most beautiful light appearing, healing and warming, and ultimately saving Syaoran's life.

She had her reservations about Syaroan moving to live with Chul. But never had she doubted Chul's love for him.

" Well if he's trying to get Syaoran's powers like that, there's only one way he could have sent the kid over to the other side." Sakura heard Ritsuko say.

" How?" Sakura asked.

" Can you come over here?" Ichiro asked Sakura. " We were trying to contact you earlier as well, if you could make it here as soon as possible, that would be great."

" Hai." Sakura hung up.

oO

" He'd have to keep some physical contact with the child." Ritsuko was explaining. " Theoretically he would have kept a connection to the portal, or to Syaoran,so that his powers might migrate back."

" But Chul's the one with the bond."

" Chul probably intercepted." Ichiro suggested.

" Chul probably stole the connection. He's powerful enough to do it."

" Would I do it without knowing?"

" Possibly."

" Lee didn't say anything about any connection." Sakura frowned. Everyone was silent for a moment.

" He doesn't know then."

" Or maybe his connection is through the portal, not through Syaoran."

" But the bond had to have come from somewhere," Chul paced toward them, " It couldn't have just formed by itself."

" Side effect?"

" And it would explain the thing sitting on the portal."

" Something's wrong." Chul interrupted. His hand clenched until his knuckles turned white.

" Is he alright?" Yue asked.

" I don't know. He's almost hyperventilating." Chul scowled deeply. Everyone stopped talking, anxiously waiting.

" Is he in danger?"

" I don't know!" Chul snapped.

" I'll go up and take a look." Muzha offered.

Minutes later he came down.

" You've come home." He told Chul.

" What?"

" You came home." Muzha repeated. " You are extremely angry at intruders in the house. Right now you and my brother are having some sort of standoff."

Everyone considered that for a minute.

" Sounds like, er, well, you." Ritsuko pointed out. To Sakura's surprise Chul ducked his head, almost sheepishly.

" Should we be worried?" Sakura asked.

" Chul's not going to harm him." Ritsuko assured her. " I know that for sure."

" I can't sense him as well." Chul interrupted. " I think he used his powers."

" That would definitely shut you up." Nezha quipped, a rather poor attempt at humor.

" There's just one very tiny problem." Muzha told his brother.

" What problem?" Sakura asked.

" Uh, you were never that fond of Lee Senyan?" Muzha glanced nervously at Chul.

" Let me guess, he just came back from meeting him?" Kero offered.

" No. But he's still Syaoran's father."

At first no one understood. " But you said the Syaoran-kun in the other world–I thought his father was dead.' Sakura blinked in confusion.

" He is."

Another long silence, as everyone digested this.

Then Chul uttered a Korean oath.

oO

Lord Chul endeavored to avoid the Japanese as much as possible. Which is just fine with Syaoran. He found himself unable to help keeping close to either Nataku or Yue, the two people who stood the best chance of standing up against this ferocious version of his guardian. Nataku was always in the sky now, trying to figure out some way around the connection-formed beast sitting in the portal. Which meant Syaoran was sticking to Yue a lot more.

This world's Yue was a lot less tolerant of him than the other world's Yue, and had attempted many times to push Syaoran off with his icy glares. Syaoran ignored them. What else could he do? Yue had been his other confidant. In finding his first confidant so completely different from the one he knew, the boy was desperate to find some familiar ground.

Things became more terrifying when Ichiro called both Li's and Meiling over and whispered to them, " Don't let Lord Chul know you're from the Li clan."

" Why?" Li asked, frowning a dark frown.

" Hates the Li clan. Just don't let him know."

Li and Meiling, after several questions, left with considerably low regard for the Water Lord. Syaoran was worried about something else entirely.

" Is my father here still Lee Senyan?"

Ichiro gave him a warning look. Syaoran asked on, voice even lower, " Was he a shadowmaster?"

" Why don't you go join your friends." Ichiro's voice was tight.

And Syaoran knew Lord Chul killed Lee Senyan in this world.

Miserable, Syaoran escaped to the remotest parts of the mansions. He had a strong feeling that it did not matter that he had no love left for his biological father. Once Lord Chul learns he is the spawn of that shadowmaster, the Water Lord might not even give him a chance to explain. He wanted nothing more than to get out of here, out of this world and to the one he belonged, where Chul was not so terrifying, where Yue was not so cold, where Sakura did not belong to someone else, even if that someone else was another version of him.

Later, Nataku returned.

" I, hm." Nataku looked apologetically at Syaoran. " Nothing we can do on this side. It depends exactly how your, uh, captor, sent you across in the first place. The lock and key exist on the other side. The best we can do is ensure your safety."

Syaoran blacked out. He was finally too tired to stay awake any longer.

oO

Chul felt Syaoran fall unconscious just as Nezha happily announced that the plan is ready to be carried out.

" What plan?" The waterspeaker snapped. It had been a discussion strictly between Muzha and Nezha. " What's going on?"

" You split." Nezha replied. " Two halves."

" He can clone himself?" Kero asked.

" Iie, he's a waterspeaker." Ritsuko answered, as if that explained everything.

" You have to keep the connection on this side in order to keep the portal open. The other half goes to fetch Syaoran, and using the bond you have with yourself, you follow it back through the portal, also probably knocking the creature sitting there out, hence closing the portal."

Chul took an agonizing moment to digest this. " How do I go through the portal?" He asked. " And how do I bring Syaoran back?"

" Bringing him back isn't the hard part." Nezha replied. He reached his hand to his mouth and spat something into it. Then he held his hand up. There was a glimmering green bead between his thumb and index finger. " The hard part is keeping half of you on the other side long enough to bring Syaoran back. And to keep the shadowmasters from taking the connection half—but that's our problem." He glanced at Sakura as he said this.

" What do I do with this?" Chul asked as he took the bead.

" Eat it." Muzha replied. " Not now though. It will keep you stationed in that realm, and lasts twenty-four mortal hours. You want it to start when we bring you to the portal. Usually we use that when we go to the realm of the dead…argh, but it's the same thing."

" Let's go." Chul said, not interested in the details.

" I'll take you there." Prince Muzha told him. " Nezha and Sakura will take care of the shadowmasters."

Chul was not listening. He was already splitting, the half remaining forming a mist that then solidified into an ice crystal. Muzha disappeared and he followed. He was going to get Syaoran back. Hopefully before his other self hurts him.

oO

" So this is where you five were hiding."

Dan was holding his arms out, as was Akil. The other three shadowmasters froze behind them. Lee raked his gaze across each of them in turn. The air was still, thick with tension. The five teenagers were speechless.

" Since you made yourselves well acquainted with the famed Card Mistress," Lee narrowed his eyes as the teenagers looked at each other, wondering how he knew and if Sakura was discovered, or worse, captured, " I have a small errand for all of you…"


	13. Chapter 12

Shadowdance

Chapter 12

" The Water Lord has gone to the portal." Lee Senyan folded his arms. In the darkness his features seemed more morbid and grim. " He is heading to the other side to rescue his precious charge."

" What does this have to do with us?" Dan demanded, then instantly regretted it as Lee narrowed his eyes dangerously.

" The Water Lord near the portal has half the power as he usually has." Lee explained. " This means part of him is remaining.

Being shadowmasters, the teenagers were no stranger to this form of magic, and did not react to this news.

" You are to destroy the half that remains here."

Dan and Akil looked at each other.

" How are we to do that?" Erledine asked from behind. " And why should we?"

" Because if you do, I may consider granting you clemency." Lee answered the second question first. " If you do not," He left that sentence hanging. " As for how, you are to head to their village. Waterspeakers can exist in all forms. You will use your logic to locate him."

He looked up at the sky abruptly, as if noticing something. When the teenagers followed his gaze, they saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Lee looked back at them, capturing their eyes again. " You have one day." He said. " Be sure it is done."

Then shadows billowed around him and he disappeared into the night.

oO

It was not long before Lord Chul lost his patience.

Syaoran had waken to murmurs. The lights were dim and he could barely see anything. He turned his head, blinking his vision into focus. There was a feeling of emptiness he could not place, and for a long moment of confusion he had lain there pondering.

" That Hiko is looking for a key to release their fire demon and we're here nursing a ten-year-old!" Park's outraged voice resonated through the halls. " I don't have time for this, heal the boy and get him out of here!"

" You will make time for this." Nataku had replied coldly. " This is as much your problem as it is ours."

" Who is going to take care of Hiko then? You?"

" Hiko can wait."

" You can wait for him. I won't."

_Hiko…_A name from a past nightmare. Of course, with no thunderspeaker here, there was no prophesized Chosen One to destroy Hiko.

The boy sat up shakily. He was in the guest room he had spent the past few days in. Li, noticing he woke, turned his attention from the furious Water Lord and Trickster God to reach over to him.

" Hey, how are you feeling?" Li asked, over the quarreling voices outside the room. " You still with us? You think you can last a little longer?"

Syaoran realized he was trembling, and took a moment to try to quell it. It did not work. Park sounded angrier than ever, and Syaoran had a strong suspicion it was mostly directed at him.

" What happened?" He asked miserably.

" You blacked out." Sakura explained, easing him back down. " Park-sama was furious about what Nataku-kotaishi said too. But they say that things are probably going to look up soon, there's some movement on the other side."

" Oh." Syaoran shook his head, instinctively searching for Chul's reassurance, but there was nothing there. Suddenly scared he looked up at Li. " Can you still see the connection?" He asked.

Li frowned at this. " It's lightened a bit. But it's still there…"

" Do you feel different?" Meiling asked.

Syaoran nodded, feeling frustrated that he was still shaking like a leaf.

" It's okay." Meiling took his hand in hers.

" _WHAT?!!"_ Park's voice thundered outside. Without warning, the door burst open. Park, blue eyes blazing with fury reached over and grabbed Syaoran's collar before the boy could react and lifted him off the bed as easily as if he were a rat by its tail.

" I want them out!" Park roared as he dragged Syaoran out. " All of these Japanese vermin!"

The waterspeakers clamored to try to calm the Water Lord and to free the terrified boy. Shocked and stunned, Syaoran was only aware of Park's hideous features, contorted in that awful scowl he never imagined would be directed his way, the blazing water magic he could feel itching to lash out into the physical world and at him. Against this unrestricted power and anger, Syaoran doubted that, even as thunderspeaker, he could ever hope to match, despite beliefs to the contrary back at home. Fear made him dumb—he could not utter a sound.

" I don't care about that other world!" Park shouted, his fists tight against Syaoran's throat as he yanked the boy mercilessly across the rooms and down the stairs, amidst the cries and protests of the waterspeakers and the guardians. He did not care what Syaoran was doing behind him and continued to tug at the boy regardless of how Syaoran tripped or how he was slammed into the walls and doors and tables. Syaoran could not feel the pain even as the shattered glass cut at his head and face, so complete was his terror. What had sparked this sudden outburst?

" Invite the spawn of that bastard into my house, will you?" Park shot his hand in front of him, and Syaoran was only slightly aware of Ritsuko being thrown into the wall, her blood splattering the tables. She groaned. " Thinking to do all this behind my back, have you?" He whirled around, Syaoran stumbling behind him, and loud crashes and cracks echoed all around them as the Water Lord unleashed his rage. " You think you can mock me? I rid the world of that menace, that rotting son of a bitch, and this is what you do? You welcome _him?" _He threw Syaoran against the table. Syaoran could not even register what room he was in. " You welcome him into _my house!_"

Syaoran barely had time to recover from the pain that exploded in his side before Park descended on him once again, seizing his hair and pulling him as the lord yanked the boy along once more, yelling profanities. Around them ice cracked at the wood and water shattered the windows. Syaoran felt a surge of power building within him, ready to unleash upon his captor, but the same fear that fed that power held it in check. Park felt impossibly powerful and impossibly enraged.

" I do not care of this boy is a bloody Messiah of his bloody dimension! I want him out, and I want these ragamuffins out or so help me—"

A bolt of ice blasted against Park, forcing the Water Lord to release him. Syaoran crumpled to the ground like a rag doll, too frightened to register that he had been released. By this time Park had dragged the boy out of the house, Nataku following closely, warning him and shouting orders. Sakura, Li, and Meiling huddled at the doorway of the mansion, the guardians behind them, as did all the waterspeakers; only Nataku had been confident enough to approach Park.

Park's attention was elsewhere, however. Near the gates outside the mansion, Park beheld himself. The same headdress, the same face, the same power, the same person, and for the moment, the same anger. He froze, for the first time hesitant, and clenched his jaw so that the muscles rippled. When the others saw this they had halted, and complete silence fell over the front courtyard of the mansion.

Chul had arrived.

Syaoran saw Chul completely by accident, paralyzed by fear as he was. He had turned his head just so that his eyes could catch the second Water Lord, and for the longest moment he did not react. Chul was not looking at him, instead looking at Park, his hand stretched out, frozen in the gesture of motion that had flung the ice bolt to free his charge.

Then Syaoran burst into tears. He uttered no sound, but his terror burst out pitifully, splattering the ground he sat on.

" Xiaolang," Chul called, his voice so soft, so tender, so warm compared to Park's, " Come here, son. Come here."

Tears still leaking out of his eyes, Syaoran remained sitting there in a stupor.

" Come, Xiaolang." Chul repeated, reaching out. " Come to me, son. It's okay. Come."

Slowly, trembling in a way that tugged at Chul's heart, Syaoran staggered to his feet like a newborn fawn. Once upright, he wasted no time racing to Chul's side. Syaoran clung to Chul, shuddering and inhaling the man's scent, relishing the strong arms that wrapped around him—to comfort, not to harm. Where they touched he could sense the waterspeaker sending those wonderful calming waters, healing waters, warm and full of love and protection.

All this time there was silence.

" Come Xiaolang," Chul murmured, taking his eyes off his counterpart to address the child. He caressed the boy's face, noting the bruises that were starting to form, and said in a voice even more gentle than before, " We're going home."

Suddenly there was a crack in the sky, like thunder, except there was no lightning to precede it. Chul turned abruptly around, but it was Park who reacted first, sending a frosty spray of poisonous ice at the shadows that shot toward the mansion.

oO

The shadowmasters approached the gates cautiously, keeping track of as many of the residents as possible. Inside, for the moment, everyone was ignorant of the will-be intruders waiting outside, speaking loudly enough that the shadowmasters could make out their words.

" This is the weirdest thing I have ever seen in my life." Sakura was declaring, sneaking glances at the ice crystal. By itself, the ice crystal looked like any other large block of ice. But the idea that the ice block was a piece of Chul was hard to ignore.

" It's actually common." Ritsuko called over her shoulder as she cleaned the table. " I'm a little worried about how Chul is faring though."

" Is there no way to keep track of him?" Yue asked.

" The gods are doing that." Eriol replied.

" Eriol-kun," Sakura turned to him, " Just what does the Void Card do anyway?"

Eriol did not answer immediately, instead giving her an almost long-suffering look. Kero zipped about restlessly, even ignoring the plate of cookies the waterspeakers left out for him.

Outside, Erledine and Teresa studied the gates nervously.

" What do we have?" Dan called from behind.

" Don't know." Teresa whispered back. " I can't sense anything."

" Me neither." Erledine confirmed." There's no way to sense what protections they put up here."

" Can you see the block of ice." Akil called over in a dry tone.

" Yes we can see a block of ice."

" Well we've stolen stuff without knowing what protections are up before. This is no different."

" This time we will face a whole clan of very angry waterspeakers. Even if the Water Lord isn't here, we'd still be pretty screwed."

" We're screwed either way."

" That's true."

" Still I'd like to know a _little _bit about the protections around this place." Teresa muttered.

" Maybe we can get Sakura to help." Lea suggested.

" Are you crazy? She's not going to help us!"

" Think she can vouch for us against Lord Senyan?"

" With the Water Lord gone, and the Trickster God, even if we have their support we'd still be killed."

" So what now?"

Lea creeped forward. " Maybe we wait until they go to bed, then slip in quick."

" They'd have guards."

" Better than having the whole clan awake."

" We'll have to work fast."

" Work fast and bolt fast."

" How long before they go to bed, you think?"

" Two hours before midnight. Probably that long."

" Alright."

Inside Eriol was actually having a harder time explaining things to Sakura than he would have liked.

" It's primary purpose was to balance the other 52 cards. Clow created it to be present, not really to be used."

" It seemed to confuse the shadowmasters though." Sakura mentioned. " I mean, they thought I was a shadowmaster because of the Void Card, it cloaked my magic or something. Or altered it."

" Shadowmasters evolved from the same kind of magic the Void Card was made from." Eriol explained a little slowly. " It had started out simply to balance everything regular magic caused. Each spell we cast causes a bit of shadow magic to form."

" Where did all that magic go then?" Sakura asked.

Eriol paused. " No one really bothered to find out." He admitted. " It was garbage, usually. The side product. The waste. And in the past,it never occurred to anyone that these things take up space. Eventually the shadow magic formed creatures, and beasts, which, as ignorant sorcerers continued casting, became conscious and shaped themselves into shadowmasters."

He pushed his glasses up anxiously; Sakura had no idea why he was so uncomfortable, " Clow Reed, ah, created the Void Card simply to take care of the waste generated by the original 52 cards. He only realized the waste because when he bound the magic into the card form, this binding allowed him to see and sense the waste forming as an effect of each spell. The Void Card was then formed in order to contain this waste. During his time, the knowledge of shadow magic was not known at all. He had no idea himself, what the Void Card was capable of doing, only what he made it for."

There was a long silence.

" Hoe!" Sakura uttered. " Then I guess we'll have to assume it can do whatever shadowmasters do, right? I mean, if it can balance all 52 cards," She paused abruptly.

" It's strange though." She reflected. " I haven't noticed it before, but when I used the Void Card, it didn't seem to drain my energy the way the other cards did."

Yue and Kero regarded this with interest.

" She can make it as powerful as she wants, then." Kero realized.

" It is fortunate the Void Card was so tame then." Yue said at the same time.

" Who will be dominant, you think, the shadowmasters or Sakura?" Kero asked.

" Sakura." Eriol replied, without a trace of doubt. " Shadowmasters are not elementals. They do not control the shadow magic, they _are_, and what you see is actually the effects of themselves, not what they are dictating. There is no fight for dominance when it comes to shadowmagic."

" Wait a minute," Sakura broke in, her eyes flashing with sudden insight, " If shadowmasters are actually shadow _magic, _does that mean I can control shadow_masters_ using the Void Card?"

oO

Chul was strangely calm. He pressed his hand against Syaoran's head in a soothing and placating manner. Perhaps it was the fact that he was with Syaoran and could see with his own eyes that Syaoran was whole and unharmed. Either way, it contrasted sharply to the boiling anger of Park, barely contained under his icy posture.

" You again." He growled.

Syaoran turned to look. It was Lee Senyan.

" My, I do like how this one is." He said, looking at Park. " Such an improvement from you, I fear." He looked almost apologetically at Chul. " You have softened." He added, noting how Chul held Syaoran against him.

" You risk your existence to come here after me." Chul replied with the calm Syaoran sensed. " Not very wise."

" On the contrary," Lee responded, " I am perfectly at liberty to use my powers however I like. Shadow magic has its perks, you know. What restricts you has no power over me."

" We shall see." Park sneered. " I have killed you once already here. I see you are no different. Still that overly-confident brute from ten years ago."

_How is Li feeling? _Syaoran wondered. Surely his other self recognized his father. Surely Li realized by now that the Water Lord was the one who killed his father. Is Li doing all right?

He shuddered, and Chul rubbed his back slowly, sending warm healing waters through him. Syaoran was too distraught to wonder if it was wise for Chul to use his magic like that.

" Sad, isn't it," Lee murmured, approaching Park, " Look at them. Look at you. He made the same mistake you made, " he sighed, as if disappointed, " Only worse. Look how he does not fight, instead holds that child as if a mere hug will make everything better. He strayed far more than I can ever help, you see."

Park sneered. " He is your son." He snarled. " A pity you cannot control your spawn, I would say."

" Elementals are always so foolhardy." Lee replied easily. " Never mind. It is your doom." He raised his hand.

Chul pressed Syaoran's face into his torso to avert his eyes. Syaoran could only hear the harsh crackle of ice and water spray, and the sickening feeling of shadow clashing with it. This world's Park was much more aggressive, and Nataku, having considered the situation, also joined in the fray. However, the duel lasted long, and though Syaoran could not see he felt that Chul had to cover him many times to prevent him from being hit by the stray magic. When he chanced a peek over Chul's shoulder he noticed everyone else had ducked for cover.

Chul was looking for a chance to slip away. In his rage, Park had forgotten the reason Lee had come, and his erratic attacks did not leave room to allow Chul and Syaoran to escape to the portal. He was supposed to go near it, hopefully touch the beast, and hold on tightly to Syaoran while tapping to his other self to bring them both back.

Park, meanwhile, was talking.

" Remember this move?" He sneered. " You taught it to me yourself." As Lee remained on one knee, looking down, Park taunted him. " You taught me well, _master._ Did you know that was the move I brought you down with, in this world? You were so surprised."

Syaoran turned his head at that, movement halted by Chul's hand. Chul was not listening, but the boy listened intently.

" How long did it take for _your _fine apprentice to see the error of your ways?" Park continued. " Doesn't look like too long. For some reason he hasn't managed to kill you yet. I have gotten my wish. I get to kill you once more, for him."

" Less talking!" Nataku snapped, throwing his cosmic ring. Syaoran heard its whirring, and an awful clang. He desperately wished he knew what Park was talking about earlier, though some part of him already felt like he knew.

" Error of my ways?" Lee Senyan laughed back. " You are not so different, my fine young apprentice!"

" That Palpatine, Darth Vader act, so not impressed!" Ichiro called out, suddenly choosing to dart from his hiding place out. He had enough presence of mind to remember what they were all there for. As did, surprisingly, Meiling.

" Sakura!" She cried out, " Use your cards and push them back!"

" Nani?!" Sakura shrieked back, not comprehending at all. Nevertheless, she drew her cards, and casting the first thing that came to mind; " Shield Card! Release and dispel!"

The Shield Card bloomed like a blessing, but it might as well have been made of mist. Where it sliced down in between the Lord elementals and the Lord Shadowmaster, Lee was still able to send his shadows through as if nothing were there. Freaked, Sakura turned to Li for suggestions. Li was not in the state to give her any.

" Use the Void Card!" Kero cried. " Kami-sama, it's got to be good for something!"

Unable to come up with anything better in a hurry, Sakura released the Void card. Its shadows melded into the shield like ink into paper, and Senyan's influence inside was abruptly cut off. However, the Void Card prevented them from seeing what was outside, shrouding the area in pitch black.

Sweating and pale, Sakura stared blankly at the shields, and for several breathless seconds there was absolute silence as everyone waited to see what will happen. When Lee fought against the shield, it did not give at all. Sakura calmed. She kept a tight grip on her staff, but like the Sakura in Syaoran's world, noted that the Void Card did not seem to drain her power.

" I think we're safe for now." She sighed in exhaustion, sinking to her knees.

" What about Ichiro?" Meiling exclaimed.

" Oh no," Sakura groaned, but she did not take the shield down.

" We cannot worry about him now." Nataku turned to look at Chul. " Think you can make it out?"

Chul shook his head. He did not want to take any risks. " Not when we can't see anything, I'm not going to risk Syaoran. If the Card Mistress would be so kind as to reshape the shields?"

Sakura raised her head. " Something's pushing against the shield." She said.

" Lee." Chul sighed. He let go of Syaoran, who took a staggering step away from him and looked at Nataku.

" I'll go out and see if I can lure him off." Nataku leaped into the air, his fire wheels forming under his feet, and sped through the shield in a burst of flame and smoke.

Park looked at Chul and Syaoran with an unreadable expression, hesitating for a long moment. He looked almost wistful, which was odd for Park. It was as if seeing himself so gentled and sentimental sparked some hidden disappointment. Then he too, disappeared, without a word.

Chul turned around as Ritsuko and the other waterspeakers headed out. One waterspeaker took care of Ritsuko's cut to the temple. Ritsuko, in turn, ventured cautiously toward Chul and Syaoran to see if either suffered any injuries, while the waterspeakers checked each other over and healed themselves. Syaoran noticed that Chul did not ask how everyone got hurt, instead taking Syaoran by the waist and pushing him toward Ritsuko for her to examine him.

" Syaoran and I need to be out of here by tomorrow, this time." Chul told Ritsuko as she checked the boy over wearily. " While they take care of Lee, we need to find some way to get out of this shield."

" Hai." Ritsuko said nervously. " We'll figure something out."

Chul glanced at Syaoran, who could not meet his gaze. The waterspeaker then looked away. There will be time for explanations later. Even so, he reached for the child's hand, and was immensely relieved when Syaoran gave it.


	14. Chapter 13

Shadowdance

Chapter 13

With all kinds of possibilities unveiling themselves, Sakura hastened to gather all the shadow magic she could. The Void Card alerted her to five distinct shadow beings outside the grounds.

Yue and a waterspeaker flew out to examine this. The shadow beings were, of course, the five young teenagers, who were waiting for all the occupants of the mansion to go to sleep before stealing Chul's ice.

Upon reaching them, Yue did not recognize the shadowmasters, and the shadowmasters did not recognize Yue. They fled, and Yue gave chase.

Sensing the struggle, Sakura decided to test her theory out. She raised her staff to gather the energies of the Void Card and began to call the shadowmasters to her.

To her delight and surprise, they responded. Within minutes, the five teens stumbled through the room, half tangible, half shadow. Startled, Sakura released her hold, and the shadowmasters, groggily, came to themselves. They looked around them as if they had just woken, and then glanced at her, bewildered.

" You're okay!" Sakura managed to grin happily. She had been worried about what happened to the five of them, but did not get a chance to dwell on it because she was far more concerned about Syaoran.

" You know them?" Eriol asked.

" Hai. They helped me go spy on Lee." Sakura nodded. " I was afraid something had happened to you guys." Relieved, she lowered her staff. " Where were you guys? It didn't sound too good back there."

" Yeah, we were on the run, but then Lord Senyan found us like that. Guess we shouldn't have bothered." Dan looked a bit wistful. And, seeing as they were already caught in the act, he admitted, " He wanted us to destroy the Water Lord's connection or something like that. Or else we're really dead."

Everyone gave him a blank look at that, since no one understood what Dan just said. Eriol, with his comprehensive knowledge of magic, quickly cast a vague-sounding spell. It was obviously a translation spell; everyone could understand each other without a go-between.

" What just happened?" Lea asked.

" Oh." Sakura bit her lip, and looked around at the others. " Well, the Void Card, apparently, can do lots of things?" she tried.

" Mind control?" Akil glanced at Eriol, who did not feel the need to clarify things. " Can you do that to Lord Senyan?"

" We're hoping she could." Kero replied.

" Haven't gathered him yet." Sakura said, her statement puzzling the shadowmasters. Nevertheless, they then said what the group needed to hear.

" He's gone to the other dimension. Not sure why." Dan informed them. " Told us to take care of Chul here and then he went to the portal."

" Why would he do that?" Sakura asked. " He can't use his powers there. He can't do anything!"

" Actually," Eriol told her quickly, " He can if his other self is dead. If his other self is alive, he cannot use his powers because it will tip the balance. However, if his other self is not there, he fills in the void."

" Why would there be a void?" Sakura asked, confused. " If his other self's dead, he's alive, wouldn't that just unbalance things even more? Because he's there when he's not supposed to be?"

" He can fool the dimension into thinking he should be there." Eriol replied. " When there are two of the same thing, it is harder to fool the dimension."

" So Syaoran-kun and Chul-san can't use their powers, but Lee can?"

" It looks like it."

" They have the other Chul there." Kero pointed out.

" You think the other Chul could kill him in time?"

" If Lee is dead there, Chul might have been the one who killed him." Eriol glanced quickly at the ice, which was pulsing. It has been about an hour already. Twenty-three hours to go. He wanted this over with, fast.

" You five," He turned to the shadowmasters, " Can you find the connection Lee used to get Syaoran over there?"

The five teens looked at one another. " We'd have to go back," Akil began.

" That's fine. We'll come with. If we get all the shadowmasters out of their hole," Ritsuko started,

" I can go with you guys into whatever room it is and draw Lee back." Sakura offered. " Then, ensnare him in the Void Card, I guess. What should I do with him afterwards?"

" It doesn't take much energy for you to use the Void Card." Eriol pointed out. " You can hold him indefinitely, technically, so maybe just bring him out for later."

" Or maybe I can use the Void Card and just get all the shadowmasters to help us." Sakura pointed out. " It doesn't take energy for me to use it, remember?"

The shadowmasters looked at each other uncomfortably. " What exactly are you going to do to us?" Erledine asked unhappily.

" Whatever is necessary." Yue answered for Sakura.

Sakura actually gave Yue a reproachful look. " I just want Syaoran-kun back, that's all." She said to them firmly.

oO

" As soon as you feel less pressure, tunnel out." Chul told Sakura. She was a lot more meek than the one he knew, perhaps because she did not go through the same experiences. Li was silent, as was Syaoran, though Li looked less resigned than Syaoran did.

" Are you alright?" Chul asked, kneeling down in front of Syaoran. Li had his own family to care for him later on. Syaoran was his charge. " Are you alright?" He repeated.

Syaoran nodded, then shook his head, then shrugged. Chul did not listen to the exchange between Lee and Park, but he was not certain Syaoran did not learn about his past relationship with the shadowmaster somehow.

" We can talk once we leave." Chul felt it necessary to say. At this Syaoran nodded, still looking resigned. Sighing, Chul straightened, folding his arms. " He's got both me and that Nezha at him, plus Ichiro. What's taking so long?"

" Blasted shadow magic is what." Kero mumbled. Chul glanced at Ritsuko, who was regarding him cautiously, more cautiously than he was used to.

" You didn't manage to stop him." He said to her. It was not until now that he realized how important it was for him to not kill Lee Senyan.

She gave him an inquiring look. " Stop who?"

" Me." Chul said. " You stopped me from killing him."

A look of understanding dawned on her. " He was too far gone."

" So was I."

" How did I stop you then."

" You told me I was him." Chul replied quietly. " I did not want to be like him."

" You didn't care." Ritsuko answered, bitterly. " You hated him too much."

Chul was silent.

Though this world's Kero was less sympathetic toward Li, the guardian still zipped in front of the other boy, murmuring, " Hey, gaki, you okay? You pulling through in there?"

When Syaoran first learned his father was alive, he had fainted, and when he came to, had dissolved into tears. Li neither fainted nor wept when he saw Lee and learned of his father's identity, and had simply stared, eyes dark, ahead as he brooded, though of course he was not the one his father was after, and he had a two other strengths: Sakura's love, and the security of family, even if they were in Hong Kong. Syaoran could not help but admire, with a slight longing, the reminder of his past confidence and courage. It seemed to him he was once a completely different person, a stronger person, even with less magic. He was shocked enough, though, to ignore any exclamations from Kero, who even tried insulting him to incite some response to no avail. Sakura could have tried, but she was too preoccupied.

" So that was the difference then." Chul stated softly. " Or one of them."

" Perhaps it is not too late." Ritsuko said hopefully. " Maybe, after seeing you,"

Chul did not answer. " What time is it."

" Midnight."

" i have twenty-two hours before I am carried away without Syaoran." Chul turned around. He studied Syaoran's pale features for a bit. " And I don't know how he's doing." He said in an under tone.

Ritsuko's eyes were oddly moist when he turned back to her. Chul did not comment on it. " There has to be a way to find out how they're doing." He sighed. Sakura's eyes were blank as she focused her entire mind to waiting for an opportunity to reshape the shields.

Ritsuko sighed, closing her eyes and focusing. Chul tapped her shoulder.

" No need." He said. " There's no need to distract him."

Li got up restlessly and paced a little. So far no one except Kero had managed to check up on him. Feeling a little sorry for the boy, Chul turned his attention to his charge's other self.

" Are you alright?" He asked.

Li glared at him for a minute. " I'm fine." He replied, sounding a bit difficult.

" Once I leave you won't be able to get all the answers." Chul pointed out.

Looking like he would prefer not to talk to Chul at all, but knowing better, Li glared at him for a moment before relenting. " What were you to him,"

Chul chanced a look at Syaoran, and noticed the other boy was also listening. Realizing he had no one to blame but himself for his current position, Chul sat down with a slight huff. " He was my mentor. I was seven. My mother had just died in a Chinese camp. He realized what I was before I did. Became a friend and guardian and counselor." Swallowing the bitterness that memory ignited, Chul continued, " Taught me what I needed to know to get my revenge on whoever was left."

Kero hovered above Li's head, a little uncertain where he should go. Li locked gazes with the waterspeaker, and Chul tried to recall any time that Syaoran had looked at him with such confidence. There was an anger behind the amber irises, however. For a while neither said anything.

Syaoran stood, staggering a little. Chul frowned, realizing that Syaoran seemed to be staggering a lot since he arrived.

" Are you alright?" Chul asked, holding out a hand to the boy.

Syaoran did not answer, but he reached out desperately for the hand as his legs wavered. Chul steadied him.

" Xiaolang?" He demanded, as Syaoran also struggled to understand what happened.

" Must be the effects of the dimension." Ritsuko hesitantly took Syaoran's shoulders, eyeing Chul until she was certain Chul was fine with her handling his charge. " Lord Chul did a number on him too."

" Are you tired? Is that why you can't walk?" Chul asked.

Syaoran once again did not answer, but this time he looked up, and wore a distinctly sleepy expression.

" Oh no," Chul knelt down to his level, " You better stay awake, alright kid?" He was not certain what will happen if Syaoran fell asleep like this.

" Ugh." Syaoran coughed, blinking groggily.

oO

The shadowmasters streamed out under Sakura's command like a group of zombies. It could not help but unnerve everyone else involved, especially the five teens.

" This raises mind control to a whole new level," Dan muttered unhappily,

" Yeah, well it's your bad luck your Lord Senyan decided to tackle with dimensions." Sakura muttered back. She was having some trouble keeping the shadowmasters human, since it seemed even their physical forms were under her influence. At length she decided to just pile them around each other.

" Getting their help is out." Sakura shook her head. " I can't control them enough. We're going to have to find out how to get through the portal on our own. He'd have left a piece of himself here like Chul did, right?"

" How can you tell with that swarming mass?" Kero was in his true form, eyeing the shadow magic nervously. The guardians were feeling a little bit sick, like the effect of shadow magic was poisoning them.

Sakura sighed. She abruptly released the influence. The shadow magic warped and formed into their separate identities.

" At least that didn't do anything." Dan muttered. There were people he knew there, and cared about, even if for now it seemed they were puppets for the Card Mistress's whim.

Sakura quickly used the Void and Shield Card to mask their presence. The shadowmasters looked at each other, confused and bewildered.

" Check that out." Kero, rejuvenated when the shield blocked the shadow magic, rose into the air as high as the shield allowed. " That mess in the middle that's not moving."

" That's the mess." Sakura darted forward, recalling Shield and sending out Void at the same time. The visible threads of the connection to the other dimension flared and became visible. The shadowmasters barely had time to react before Sakura had them under her control again.

This time Sakura commanded out loud. " Lee Senyan, come to me!"

There was a huge crack in the sky, and everyone could see blackness pouring down toward the shadow blob on the ground. However, as the last of the magic reunited, Lee Senyan morphed into his human from. Sakura stepped back, frightened, and instantly everyone knew this was done despite her control.

" You are proving to be extremely annoying." He glared at her, but before he could get further, there was a second louder crack, and a stream of water blasted through the sky, followed by a flash of lightning and a rumble of thunder.

Chul and Syaoran had returned. And from the flash of lightning, and the bolt that struck beside them, Syaoran was in his elemental form.


	15. Chapter 14

Shadowdance 

Chapter 14

The other Sakura had done very well. As soon as Lee Senyan stopped crushing at her shields, she had opened them up for Chul to take Syaoran up. Chul had grabbed Syaoran once the shield morphed, and followed the connection through the portal. However, once through the portal, both reverted to their elemental forms.

Syaoran found Sakura first. Several waterspeakers had joined her, so Chul found her later through his connection with the others. However, while Chul was able to transform into his human form, Syaoran was unable to, which was just as well as, in his light form, Senyan had no power to harm him.

Knowing this, everyone focused their attention on getting rid of Lee first. Sakura turned to exert her influence on Lee again, however like the first time he threw it off. Chul attacked Lee next, and as he did it started started raining. Syaoran's lightning flashed anxiously in the sky, but he did not try to strike Lee as he had the firespeakers. In a swirl of water, Chul merged into Lee's shadows and the world erupted into chaos. The five shadowmasters tried to flee, but Lee grabbed hold of them and forced them to merge into his own shadows, increasing his power. Shadows zipped through the air to join his ranks.

" Iie!" Sakura cried, when she realized what happened, and called upon the Void Card to pull them back. The battle of wills began in the midst of the swirling whirlwind of water and darkness. Chul sensed the increase in Lee's power, but in his rage he did not pause to consider what caused it.

_Ah, treasured child,_ Lee taunted, _You were always my brightest student. So full of potential. Your anger at the world brought you to what you are. It's a shame though, that this is the best you can do._

_You haven't seen what I can do. _Chul responded. _I will not let you take him._

_He is mine. He was mine. He was created by my hand._

_However you did it, you gave him up the day you left him. _Chul's words formed ice, which cut into the wind. _You relinquish any hold on him._

_And you think you have him?_ Lee chuckled. _Even now he hides in the skies, afraid to come down, afraid to help you._

_He has more decency than you ever did._

_Has he now? Think about how he finished of Hiko. The great Fire Child, and all his pitiful followers. Did he not strike them down in an unholy wrath?_

This made Chul pause, and he thought back to those nightmares so filled with despair and sorrow. What if Lee was right? What if Syaoran would become like his father?

Lee laughed and forced Chul back. The world exploded with shadow and ice magic. Sakura was screaming something below, and Chul felt a ripple through Lee's power. Syaoran's light flashed again in the sky, and Chul felt a sudden firey heat merge with his ice. Third Prince Nezha had joined them. The deity did not speak to Lee, however, he spoke to Chul while blocking Lee's attacks.

_Do not harm the children._

_What children?! _Chul shot back.

_He has possessed the minds and bodies of five young shadowmasters._ Nezha replied. Be careful. 

_They're all the same._ Chul hissed angrily.

_No they are not._ Nezha warned._ Do not act rashly. They are the reason you returned. Have faith in me._

It was strange hearing this plea from a god, so strange that for a moment Chul complied. His mind quickly flashed back to when Syaoran had killed the firespeakers. For Sakura, he remembered. And the child materialized and nearly bled to death. He had been too overjoyed that the boy was still alive, and then too frightened of losing him again, to consider what Syaoran had done that night.

_" So that was the difference then. Or one of them."_

_" Perhaps it is not too late. Maybe, after seeing you,"_

Chul shuddered. He did not even know how he managed to cope all those years before he met Syaoran. The idea that there might have been a chance that he never would. Even Hiko could be thanked for that.

_" He was too far gone."_

_" So was I."_

_" How did I stop you then."_

_" You told me I was him. I did not want to be like him."_

_" You didn't care. You hated him too much."_

Chul suddenly remembered something.

_" It is a warning, not a promise. You must see the familiar face."_

_Syaoran, looking terrified, of him. Like a vision from the past—thousands of visions, over all the decades he had lived…_

_" You love him as a father, but he cannot love you in return. He is not ready, and neither yet are you."_

_" The wounded cannot tend to the wounded, Lord of Water. Can you heal for him?"_

_Yue, regarding him, " Do you know what she speaks of?" _

_" She accuses me of being wounded."_

_" Well you are." Yue replied quietly. " Or you were. You have changed, but that does not mean all faults have been corrected."_

His thoughts raced. 

_" I know you want it. You want to adopt him. You need him. Have you ever wondered why you totally stunk at healing? It's because you were always filled with so much hate and bitterness. Healing is a skill that requires compassion. It requires the courage to help others at the risk of being hurt. It requires empathy, sympathy. It requires love."_

_" This child needs you! This child has done no wrong! This child is hurting, he's lost his family the same way you lost yours!" _

_He recalled the handsome young man in the dream. Eyes just like his father. But then, he had eyes like that too, once. He even saw them, on his own face._

_Syaoran, at his mercy, staring at him almost smugly. " Go ahead. The great Water Lord never hesitated before. What is another child?"_

No, not another child. No more children. From the beginning, even when his heart warmed for the sake of the boy, he had never considered that all this time Syaoran may have in his own mind, dread about Chul's past. That while the boy trusted him enough to sleep by his side and allow Chul to give him full protection, Syaoran was still terrified of what Chul once was, and may still be. The boy had spent his days at the village in a melancholy not only because he was not able to grieve for his loss, but because he was equally unable to ascertain his future. And Chul had been equally afraid of his past, never allowing himself or Syaoran to speak of it.

_" Park-san, I am sure you noticed Syaoran's behavior lately has been getting…rather worrisome."_

_" He's been displaying…suicidal tendencies to me recently."_

_"He feels that he is out of place and does not want to impose himself on anyone, including you."_

_Syaoran, reaching out to him tentatively through their bond. "Sakura's just like that, you know. She never holds grudges. And I stayed kind of because Yue made me realize just how I felt. Don't know what I was hoping to accomplish."_

_" You love her."_

_" Yeah."_

_" Did you tell her?"_

_" Yeah."_

_" What did she say?"_

_" She didn't say anything."_

_" Know why?"_

_" Yeah. She was shocked. She didn't see it coming."_

_" You're still waiting for her?"_

The heat spilled out and hit Chul, hard. Nezha called his name, but all Chul could comprehend was a swirl of red chou and Lee Senyan, laughing.

_This is not heaven, little prince! In the mortal night, I, Mide, rule and command!_

There was no way Syaoran could understand what was happening. He was not experienced enough to understand how elementals and shadowmasters speak in their magical forms. But the sky illuminated with his light, as if contradicting Lee. Chul knew why. Syaoran was getting anxious. The lightning that burst forth from the clouds, instead of shocking and hurting Chul, used the air and water as a conductor to attack Lee instead, knocking him away from Nezha's flames. Syaoran did no more than that, however, nor did Chul expect that of him. If it was the last thing he ever did, he will love this child and he will act out of that love without worrying about anything in return, as Syaoran had shown he was able to do. And killing a monster should never have been Syaoran's task. It was his demon to face.

_How you broke his heart, Mide. _Chul murmured, before lunging in for the blow. _The shadows split and the wind shrieked as he went with ice magic. The boy loved you. You failed worse than you know. Kneel before your death!_

oO

Yue and Kerberus circled the ground below. The dirt and dust from the earth blew up to blind them. Sakura protected everyone with her shield card, giving up using the Void Card to influence the battle for the moment. Above them, thunder boomed, adding to the noise. The elements raged.

" Yue-san!" Sakura shouted, " Kero-chan! Get down here!"

Kero made as if to get down, but Yue remained in the air, and Sakura beheld the strangest look from him—that of dread. When Kero realized his fellow guardian was not following him, he turned around to look, but by this time Yue was staring up into the clouds again, and Sakura realized Yue was hesitating because of Syaoran.

Not understanding, but sensing the urgency, Sakura tried to use the Void Card again. The Void Card flew out of her hands as she did and revealed its true shape. With a sigh, as if resigned, the spirit sailed towards the whirlwind and darkened the skies even further. The shadowmaster lashed out and Yue and Kero barely dodged the spray of darkness. What the spray did touch seemed to dissolve and crumble, as if time sped up, or acid had splattered all over them.

At this sight, Sakura thickened the shields nervously. Nezha's cosmic ring suddenly spun out of the mess. It hit the ground right where Sakura's shield touched, where the dirt exploded, and bounced back up, the spinning so loud it was enough to make everyone dizzy.

" He is too powerful," Ritsuko whispered. " It's one thing to defend against him. It's another to defeat him. Even Nataku is having a hard time—what do we do?"

Water spiraled out of the chaos and crashed against Sakura's shields. It gathered itself up and crushed back like a wave. Nezha flamed down, landing on the ground, looking up at the sky and frowning.

" What's going on?" Sakura called out to him.

Instead of answering, Nezha swung his cosmic ring off again and threw it high up into the air. He then flung his red chou into the darkness. It's red glow seemed to do nothing but illuminate water droplets, but Nezha did not seem to be attacking.

" He's waiting for something." One of the waterspeakers realized.  
" Hopefully it's a good thing." Ritsuko replied.

oO

Syaoran felt like he was floating. All past concerns seemed to dissolve in the endless light and colors. Though he knew Chul was in danger, he could not rouse concern in his light form.

_What happens now? _The Lady asked him. _If he wins?_

_Do we know he will win? _Syaoran asked. _You're not helping. You rarely help anyone._

_I am actually not as powerful as you will be. _The Lady replied. _They fear my wrath, because they do not know that in fact, I am almost an illusion. Most of my conscience has gone with the light. I only remained here to wait for you.  
_  
_Why me? Syaoran asked. I was nothing. The youngest sorcerer of the Li Clan, but compared to elementals…_

_Time will come, when you will understand. _The Lady answered. _For now, look ahead, not at the past. If he wins, will you stay with him?_

Syaoran had not given this much thought; the fact that once Chul defeats Lee Senyan for good, Syaoran would no longer have to stay with him. He could go wherever he wanted.

_I saw him, back there,_ Syaoran admitted, referring to the other Chul, _He was so different. Even though he didn't know me. I remember when it all started. I couldn't see and couldn't hear and couldn't talk. He took care of me. The other…he never would have._

_Indeed, _The Lady murmured, _He had lost all hope, and will never have a chance, it seems, to regain it. The Water Lord here, however, found his purpose in you._

_If I leave him, will he go back to the way he was?_

_Perhaps. Perhaps not. He will understand. But one never knows, with tormented souls, how they react to new torment. But you must not stay only for him. He is the present. You are the future. Think about what you want. These last weeks, have you not come to care for him at all?_

_I feel closer to Yue. He doesn't like to talk to me all that much. And if I'm with Yue I can be with Sakura more. _At least, Syaoran was not really considering remaining light forever, although he still felt uncomfortable about returning to human form. _I wonder if she remembers at all. Or maybe she thinks I've forgotten, just because everything else has been happening to me._

_She is giving you time, just as you are giving her. _The Lady said. _Love is a test of patience and endurance, the ability to try to understand, and to have faith. You have many who love you dearly, Xiaolang. Do not close your heart because you doubt this._

Syaoran hesitated, remembering the terrifying moments when he had been dragged out of the mansion in the other world. _Do you think he would ever get mad enough that…_

The Lady answered without hesitation. _He would kill himself first. _

oO

From the clouds a different sort of light appeared. Prince Nezha rose into the air to greet him. It was one of the deities Sakura had not seen before. He had a third eye in the middle of his forehead, which, at the moment, was closed.

" I can't turn him to human form any more than you," The deity told the prince, " Although I can give it a try."

" Do." Nezha insisted. " It's ridiculous. Only Chul is doing anything to this man. I do not even know how. My fire is not accomplishing anything."

" Hm." The deity considered. " I'll send the hound in then."

Nezha moved back as the deity looked up and whistled. Something even blacker than Lee's magic appeared, in the form of a giant dog. Syaoran's lightning flashed as the dog seemed to run through the air to join its master.

" Go in there and force that shadowmaster into his human form." The deity ordered.

With a loud growl that was more of a roar, the hound leaped into the chaos. Abruptly, Chul withdrew, in his human form, quickly taking his place beside Nezha. Very quickly, however, the hound leaped back out.

" What?" Nezha exclaimed. " How is that possible?"

" He is not mortal, is he." The deity commented.

Nezha looked up. " We have to go about this the hard way."

" I suppose." The deity replied, moving his spear from one hand to the other. He looked at Chul, blinked, then headed into the darkness. Nezha also glanced at Chul.

" We're going to try to get him into his human form." He told Chul. " Hopefully that would lessen the destruction."

Syaoran's lightning flashed as Nezha disappeared into flame. In a swirl of water, Chul followed after him.

Below, Sakura slumped over suddenly. One of the waterspeakers caught her as she fell. She had fainted.


	16. Chapter 15

"Shadowdance

Chapter 15

The deity was the Erlang Deity, a god of great combat skills. His third eye can dispel illusions and see the truth. His black hound is a work of darkness, which evened the odds as the dog began to influence the shadowmasters away from Lee Senyan.

Yue and Kero had landed on the ground as the waterspeakers tried to rouse Sakura. The Shield Card had dropped as she fell, exposing everyone to the battle. The Lady Thunderspeaker stopped talking to Syaoran, leaving him to focus his attentions on what happened next.

Lee's shadows rose high into the sky. Nezha, Erlang, and Chul followed. They clashed, creating a violent explosion, and suddenly shadows flung out from the blast. Shadowmasters, under the influence of Lee. Their bodies spun in the air and cracked as they hit the ground.

Horrified, Chul drew back, and Lee used this to his advantage. He pursued the waterspeaker into the clouds. Syaoran wafted through, and for the first time, father and son met face to face in their magical forms.

Neither could do a thing about each other, however. Syaoran did not try to attack. He merely blocked, and Lee could not get through. Chul tried to recover his bearings. He shuddered. He had vowed not to kill any more innocents. Was it really that hopeless?

Syaoran was not afraid. In his light form, he was very much invincible. He circled his father lazily, in a daze. Past disappointments seem trivial now. Why would he need a father? He is fine on his own. Yet for some reason he continued to block Lee from Chul.

While the light prevented Lee's attacks from reaching across, Nezha and Erlang were more than capable of sending their spells at Lee Senyan. Furious, the shadowlord tried to push past Syaoran, but the thunderspeaker would not give. He was the complete opposite of Senyan now, and more than a match. Lee would have to revert to his human form. Syaoran's light enveloped the concentrated black mass, trapping the Shadowlord.

" What do we do?" Nezha asked Erlang. " We can't keep it like this."

" One of us will wear out. It is three against one." Erlang pointed out. " That is, if the child can hold his own." He was worried that Syaoran would not concentrate hard enough to maintain the biased barrier. In elemental form, elementals tend to lose sight of their goal when they remain in that form for too long. " We may need to hurry."

Suddenly, as if Erlang's words were an omen, the shadows clashed furiously against the light, which shimmered and began to shrink.

Chul swore, dashing in immediately, but the light was rapidly dimming.

" What on earth is he doing?" Nezha cried.

" He is losing focus.." Erlang waved at his black hound. "At him!"

Chul was already clashing at Lee, who faltered a little bit and released his hold on Syaoran. The dog growled, and its growl was terrible and completely unreal. As it dove it also became shadow, darker and more terrible than even Lee Senyan. Syaoran's light washed in to protect Chul, but it also blocked the canine's shadow. Lee dove away from the deities' blows.

_Xiaolang, _Lee's voice vibrated in the dark clouds. It was the first time he spoke directly to his son since the first time they met. _Why do you insist on protecting him? He is no better than I, foolish child._

Syaoran's presence rippled at this, as if woken from a trance. He still circled around, but his pace was much slower.

_You know very well who he is. _Lee continued. The Erlang Deity and firespeaker tried to distract him, but he held his own suddenly, even against the black hound. _You've seen what he is, what he is capable of. In time he will even hurt you, my foolish son. It is in him. I watched it grow in him as he grew. You really think such a man can hold any love for such a child as you?_

Syaoran's pace did not slow further, but neither did it quicken. Chul was forced to dodge one of Lee's attacks.

_Syaoran!_ He cried out, _Please!_

Below, Sakura began to wake. She felt ill and faint, much worse than falling unconscious simply due to magical exhaustion. Shuddering, she managed to sit upright with the help of her guardians.

" Syaoran-kun?" She asked fearfully.

" They're still at it!" Kero looked up. " This guy's too powerful! Two gods and the Water Lord at him all at once and he's still holding them back!"

_Syaoran, _Chul begged, horrible memories of his past coming to haunt him. Fitting, almost, how he will be punished for stealing away all those lives by having the one thing he treasured most taken from him. He could not even say Lee was lying. _Whatever happens after this is up to you. You don't have to stay with me. You can live with Yue, or with Eriol, oh for god's sake, you can join the light too, but if you let this man win you will be destroyed, do you hear? Don't let this man win! Whatever happens—you can even kill me if you wish, but don't let this man win!_

Strangely, Syaoran responded with a strange mental sound, much like a " Hmmmm" of contemplation. He was half blocking Chul now, so that Chul did less dodging but Lee was completely unable to maneuver past Syaoran's defenses. There was a keen sense that Syaoran was fighting something, most likely the daze he always seemed to be in whenever he was in light form, in order to form a coherent thought. Below, Sakura was standing, distressed at her own helplessness. She pulled out her deck of cards and stared at them desperately. The Void Card did no't work. If that one did not work, what could?

Suddenly, that new card caught her eye, the one she did not know what to make of. It was the one that seemed to have formed when she had started crying after Syaoran left. The same wave of emotion passed over her. Just last year their worst troubles had been the tests of a friend. To think the most sorrowful time for her had been when Yukito rejected her love. Their world had collapsed around them in a single night and chaos followed afterwards. She had not wanted Syaoran to leave, because him leaving meant losing him for however long it took before Chul returned him to Tomoeda. Iie, 'return' was not even the right word. But Sakura was past caring. This card had emerged out of nowhere and was, quite frankly, the only card that may help which Sakura has not tried yet.

" Release!" She cried, and the card took form. It sailed smoothly into the sky, glowing in its radiance, and merged with Syaoran's light.

The surprise of the sudden unexpected merging made Syaoran draw to a halt. He was suddenly about to think very clearly. The past few months flew by in his mind, and the card's spirit sent him recollections of Sakura's worry while he was in Korea. Sakura had not stopped thinking about him ever since he left. She had been waiting expectantly for him to talk to her each time Yukito called the waterspeakers. But it was not just Sakura's thoughts that the card reminded him of. Chul's unwavering attention, his protective hold of Syaoran's nightmares at night, and guarding him at the cost of his own waterspeaker duties. Yue and his daily calls and those long talks, if only to make Syaoran feel better.

Syaoran suddenly dove straight for Lee. In surprise, Lee did not have a chance to dodge. Sakura's card illuminated everything, however, and before anyone could react the shadowmasters were scattering. Below, Sakura felt a tug at her magical core, and Syaoran's mental voice flowed to her.

_He is my father, all the same. _Syaoran said sadly. _I do not want to kill him…_

Sakura blinked in surprise. She had been sensing what the card was doing to Syaoran and the shadowmasters, and was starting to understand just what the card did. Deciding to try something  
she took control of the card and made it leave Syaoran. In her mind it seemed a bright light was spreading and encasing everything. She forced it to grow brighter but shrink in size.

Chul watched, shocked, as the spirit of the card surrounded Lee Senyan and trapped his shadows in its energy. It began to shrink and grow more concentrated.

_No! _The Shadowlord roared, as he fought the influence of this new card. _No!!_

_I love him. _Sakura barely knew what she was doing. She was just watching from below and desperate for her card to put an end to this, to defeat this being that sired Syaoran but was nothing at all like him. _I love him I love him, I want him to be happy, I want him to stay I want him to be safe I love him I love him, _and with this mantra in the back of her mind she felt power sail through the air to strengthen the card's hold.

He sensed Lee struggling frantically in its grasp, but Syaoran was powering it as well with his own light.

_You will do this to your own father! _Lee cried out in rage. _You will do this, to your own flesh and blood!_

" Ha!" Nezha barked, despite having no idea what was going on. He was just watching, fascinated, as whatever card it was the Card Mistress tossed seemed to give Lee more trouble than any of their attacks. " That's a pot calling the kettle black! And considering you're actually dark and he's light in its purest form," He sailed back a little as the fight became more frenzied.

Chul just watched, dazed.

_Always wanted a father. _Syaoran murmured. His voice had taken on that disoriented quality that mimicked his disoriented actions before Sakura's card was released. _Always thought…was cheated…should have been one other person who treasured me as much as Niang did. Thought it was my right. Thought Father was someone to be proud of…guess you relinquished your mandate._

_Brat! _Lee shrieked. _To have no consideration for your elders! A fine son you are, to not repay your father for giving you life!  
_

_…disown you…_ Syaoran said quietly.

Soon, a single gem was left and it dropped out of the sky to the earth below. The rumble in the clouds faded into the silence of calm finality.

" What just happened?" Nezha asked, after a moment's pause. The black hound scampered to its master.

" I think," The Erlang Deity began, " That the Sakura Card…it trapped Lee Senyan in a crystal."

" Oh." Nezha stared. " Well, that could have saved us a lot of wasted effort and energy if she had tossed that one out sooner."

" It might have."

Chul was much more concerned about Syaoran. " Syaoran?" He called, reverting back to his human form as he did so. " Syaoran?"

The light circled around him, but Syaoran did not appear. He did not know how to. Still, his presence was whole, and there was a focus and intent to it that had not been there before. For a breathless moment Chul realized that Syaoran had not simply disappeared into the skies to join the light, and that he seemed to be hovering next to Chul, waiting. Waiting for what?

_Help on reverting. _Chul realized. Syaoran was staying with him.

Lee Senyan is gone.

The gods were not tired. They descended to the earth to look for the new crystal. Chul misted down and collapsed on the grasses, ignoring the worried cries from the waterspeakers and the magicians. It felt strange now that Lee is finally gone. It was unreal. It was too easy. Things could not possibly be so easy, could it?

With an audible crack, Sakura's card flew down to Sakura's hand. The girl caught it, smiling in a mixture of surprise and relief, before suddenly slumping over again, this time completely limp. The sudden loss of the card's power seemed to disorient Syaoran even more, for he suddenly shimmered and wavered in the air, his aura feeling very much like it had been before.

_Abuji? _He called out, confused. _Abuji?_

Chul did not know what to make of it. _Syaoran?_

_Abuji?_

It took a moment for Chul to realize Syaoran was calling him. He reached out with his mind, shuddering from some emotion he could not name. _Son. It's okay now. You did it. Sakura did it. He's gone._

Syaoran was quiet for a moment. _Was I bad? _He asked softly. _To disown him._

As amazing as that sounded, Chul could understand Syaoran's worry. If Confucianism had anything to say, the son must obey the father, or he was a bad son, if only out of gratitude for being given that breath of life that stirs everyone. It was to prevent children from being spoiled, to maintain order and balance, but so many unhappy sons were denounced and disgraced when they turn against their unreasonable sires.

_As you said. _Chul replied. _He relinquished any hold on you. Come to me, son. I will help you transform. They are waiting for you below._

Syaoran hesitated a moment more. Sakura was still unconscious, but he did want to see her. He approached Chul.

_If you let me, _Chul whispered, his mist mixing with Syaoran's light to create a rainbow in the clearing sky, _I will be that father which treasures you above the world._

In the sky, the rainbow disappeared.


	17. Chapter 16

Shadowdance

Chapter 16

" So."

After waking up to an intense headache and taking aspirin, things were sorted out. The young shadowmasters gathered around Syaoran, looking a bit sheepish. They were still terrified of Chul, who was the one paying attention to them. Nezha and Erlang were still looking for the gem that trapped Lee Senyan.

Syaoran, on the other hand, was staring at Sakura, who was staring back.

" Well, you get to see a little bit of Korea…" Syaoran shrugged. " Did you miss the play?"

" Hai." Sakura replied dryly. " And it's all your fault, you know." She smiled to show she was just joking.

" Gomen ne." Syaoran said anyway.

" Not to mention I'd have to kiss Takashi-kun." Sakura shrugged. " Tomoyo-chan can do that. Kissing you onstage was weird enough. Kissing Takashi—egh."

Syaoran blushed. " Yeah."

Sakura suddenly lunged forward and hugged Syaoran. Syaoran stumbled a little, shocked.

" Stay well, okay?" Sakura's voice wavered from where she buried her face into Syaoran's shoulder. " I know times are hard for you, and I know that you may not be comfortable telling me everything that's been going on, but I'm always here for you and I'll always be here for you, okay? If you need anything? Don't keep scaring me like that, going off into the light and always threatening to remain that way and never come back."

Syaoran did not hug her back. " Yeah." He said despondently.

" Aishiteru." Sakura told him, still hugging him. " Aishiteru, aishiteru, and if that's not enough Yue-san loves you and Eriol-kun loves you and Chul-san loves you, so stay and be well, okay? Don't leave us like this."

It was a long time before Syaoran returned the hug. He was so emotionally drained that he could not summon the energy to return her passion. Heavy sorrow weighed in his heart, and not even Sakura's unexpected declaration was enough. He was thinking about the other world, about the other Li who was so happy, with a cousin with him and a family, and Sakura who stood by him, a father who he did not kill, and mostly just different. Would he prefer that kind of life? He thought about Chul. Was it true, that Chul still had it in him? No. Chul is no longer the same person he was before. But what was the relationship between Chul and Lee? Syaoran was afraid to know.

" Well." He heard Chul suddenly say. " I suppose I should punish you for trying to interfere with everything."

" What?" Kero and the waterspeakers blurted out. " Park—"

" Well, considering that you younglings nearly destroyed any chances of me saving Syaoran back from the other dimension, as Chairman of the Council of Magic…"

" Chul, come on!'

" Most of them weren't even involved—"

" They're just kids—"

" I think it's about time the Council had some new members." Chul finished.

Ritsuko took a moment to decipher that before realizing the Water Lord was actually _joking. _" You prat!" She cried.

Chul gave her an innocent look.

The teenagers were still shuddering, not understanding what he was talking about.

" What Chul meant was," Another waterspeaker explained, " From now on the shadowmasters will have a say in the Magical Council."

" Huh?" The teenagers cried out. Behind them, the shadowmasters murmured in joyful surprise.

" From now on," Chul announced, " The shadowmasters will be able to take part in the actions of the Council. You will be able to choose your representatives and ally with other magical races. The Council convenes at the end of this month east of the Chicxulub crater of the Yucatan Peninsula in southeast Mexico, should you wish to join us."

The shadowmasters could not believe their good luck.

" Stay well, okay?" Sakura said again. Syaoran nodded. She stepped back from him to join Yue and Kero. Yue looked at Syaoran for a moment, but did not speak.

" Have a safe journey!" Ritsuko told the Japanese.

oO

As they all returned to the mansion, Chul reached out to touch Syaoran's shoulder. " Do you want to talk?" He asked.

They went to Chul's room, but both were awkwardly silent for a while. Chul tried to get Syaoran to sit, but the boy stubbornly stood.

" He was my mentor. I'm sure you guessed." Chul told Syaoran quietly. " Back then I had no one."

Syaoran closed his eyes.

" Back then," Chul sighed, " My mother had gone mad. The years with Terauchi traumatized her beyond repair. He transmitted some disease to her which no one could diagnose. She ultimately died, and I blamed the Chinese doctors because she was the only thing I ever had." Chul looked at Syaoran. " My powers…well, Lee was the first to discover them."

Syaoran opened his eyes, but did not look at Chul.

" He took me as his ward." Chul admitted. " To me, back then, he was my savior. He delivered me from a fate I could not imagine. And he trained me. He said, so long as I am weak I will always be beaten. I had to strengthen myself. I had to be stronger than everyone around me. And it was easy because…" He shrugged. " I was already stronger than everyone around me. He did not know waterspeaker skills, but he knew magic in general, and that was mostly enough. But we were never able to crack the barrier that prevented me from healing. I had too much anger in me. Too much indignation. Still, I guess he didn't really care."

_" Healing is a waste of time. So long as you're invincible, you don't need it. Look at them, sniveling there like cowards. What makes them deserve the mercy your mother did not receive?"_

_" Nothing! No one deserves mercy!"_

_" Kill them."_

Syaoran looked pained. " Did you hate everyone?"

Chul hesitated. " Yes." He admitted. " And I did have the power to act on that hate."

Syaoran looked at him intensely at this confession. " What drove you away from him?" _Was he the type of person to turn against his mentor once he had enough?_

Chul closed his eyes, remembering visions he had vowed to forget. " He was training me to be his warrior. His defender. Most of all, his symbol, to the rest of the world, that he had the most powerful elemental on his side. He didn't count on me being more powerful than him. It threatened him, made him afraid. He was the one who drove me away."

_" So, I was a fool to believe I had an ally in you!"_

_" Indeed, you were. It's a shame really. But as they say, everything in moderation..."_

_" You were the only friend I had! I trusted you!"_

He opened his eyes and reached out to Syaoran.

" I did many terrible things. I know you are afraid of me because of that."

" No." Syaoran shook his head. " I'm not afraid of you."

Chul looked at him.

" I didn't know he was your mentor." Syaoran said quietly. " I didn't know why you hated him so much. It didn't make sense at the time." He took Chul's hand. " But he's gone now. He can't hurt you anymore."

Chul was speechless for a long time. Hurt _him? _The boy's selflessness knows no bounds, apparently. All this time Chul had been deathly afraid of Syaoran getting hurt.

" And you can heal now." Syaoran smiled a little. " That means you're...you don't hate everyone still, right?"

Chul felt emotion well in him. " No. No I don't." _There's at least one person in the world I definitely don't hate._

" Do I remind you of him?" Syaoran asked nervously. " Do I remind you of him at all?"

_You're the splitting image of your father. Of course you do. But no, he is not your father. No matter what trick of science or magic made you related to him, there is no way Lee Senyan can take part in creating something so precious to this world._

" You two can't be any more different." Chul said quietly. And, suddenly, as if the world's magic prompted him to speak, he added, " No matter what happens, Syaoran, I'll always love you."

He suddenly had a vision after speaking those words. It was like that nightmare he had ever since coming back to Korea. Syaoran dressed in white, with that manic gleam in his eyes. It was paired with the other world's version of himself. The same cold stare, chilling and cold. How alike they were, Chul reflected. He had envisioned a Syaoran very much like himself. And why not? He had not broken free from his past and its stain upon his soul.

But that Syaoran will never exist. Chul realized with some pleasant surprise that talking about his past no longer felt so difficult. He could face it now. For his own sake, as well as Syaoran's. And so long as he himself is not tainted by Lee's darkness, Syaoran will never fall. So the dream was a warning. And Raina was right. He cannot ensure Syaoran's well-being if he was always consumed with his indignant past.

He was hugging Syaoran, he realized, when he broke out of his musings. Syaoran was returning the hug. There was a sense of relief coming from the child.

" Will it work out?" Syaoran asked suddenly, head buried in his chest.

" Whatever happens, we'll try our hardest." Chul replied. " It won't be like the Li clan, but it won't be worse. I promise."

" Found it!" Someone yelled outside. It was Nezha. He was holding the gem. " Just coming down to give you guys a heads up. We're sealing this idiot in a jar up in Heaven."

Some waterspeakers and shadowmasters yelled something in response.

Syaoran was content to stay with Chul. It did not matter what happened to Lee Senyan now. He made his decision. Chul had changed, and Syaoran can trust this Chul. It did not matter that he used to be the same Chul from the other world. What mattered was now.

And granted, even if he would not have traded his family for Chul, he would not trade Chul for anyone else. And Chul needs him. Chul needs him, and in his own way he needed Chul.

_I have a home. _He thought. _I have a home here._

He was suddenly overcome with a powerful sense of joy. The future did not look so bleak anymore. All of the sudden, he could accept Sakura's love. He had a place in this world.

And as for Chul, the tight knot that had been in his heart ever since he first accepted Syaoran loosened. He knew Syaoran will not leave him. Somehow, despite his past sins and crimes, fate had given him a new chance. He could feel the little one's joy and he tightened his hold around Syaoran. From today on, nothing will ever harm his child.

His son.

oO

Epilogue

" Happy Belated Birthday!"

It was a bit of a hasty celebration because, as Chul had mentioned before, at the end of the month everyone had to head over to Mexico, and there was a rush to compile and get everything in order. It was actually the birthday of one of the young waterspeakers, who everyone forgot because of the whole mess with Syaoran and his unlamented imprisoned father. Ex-father, if Lee could be called that.

Syaoran was a little sad, because some of the games at the party were impossible for him to play, at least not to the skill of the waterspeakers—the children were sculpting crude ice statues that Syaoran could not match because much of his Li magic had been reduced. Still, the waterspeaker children were anxious to get Syaoran to try, and Chul had to admit with the resources he had, Syaoran actually made a very fine statue of Spongebob, down to the sponge pores. At the very least, there was no mistaking what Syaoran's statue represented, whereas the same could not be said for the other waterspeakers. Unfortunately, while the other statues were able to remain as they were, Syaoran's ice quickly melted, which caused a mess only waterspeakers could clean up efficiently. Syaoran did not have the magical energy to create another one.

About an hour and a half of the party was spent by the waterspeaker children trying to trap Syaoran's electricity in ice crystals, which Syaoran found a little boring. The day was productive, in that Syaoran learned his white chou could be used so he could fly without having to transform into his elemental form. Everyone was a little edgy about it—though Syaoran transformed safely with Chul that fateful day, he never tried again for fear of something happening. Chul was still researching on safe ways to morph, and until Chul was certain Syaoran was not allowed to turn into light, even if this does allow fast transportation. The chou somehow inspired the waterspeakers to start sparring with Syaoran. It was nonsensical, even for the children, but they still managed to exhaust themselves. Syaoran ended up stumbling over to Chou and falling asleep in his arms.

He had his own bed now with the other children, but occasionally Syaoran had trouble sleeping and he would move to Chul's room, so Chul placed Syaoran in his bed before joining the others. Ritsuko managed to keep everything in some order, though Chul could tell it was taxing on her patience a little. Still, it was a birthday party, and the atmosphere was joyous.

" He's fitting in well." Ritsuko observed when another adult relieved her of responsibility. She sat next to Chul. " And you seem more relaxed about everything in general."

" That obvious?"

She quirked an eyebrow. " Are you planning to announce it to the Council?" She asked. " That you adopted him?"

" Yes."

She smiled. " Will his name be Li Syaoran? Park Syaoran? Li-Park Syaoran?"

" Just Li Syaoran, I think." Chul replied. " There's no sense changing his name. It's the only thing he has left of his old family. And there's no competition for me against his old family, after all."

Ritsuko leaned back on the couch. " What did you do?" She asked. " He seemed to make up his mind pretty quickly."

Chul wondered a little too. He was not sure himself. All he knew was he trusted his instincts to tell Syaoran what he could of his past and allow Syaoran to make his own judgments. " I think I just confided in him." He shrugged. " And by doing so I assured Syaoran of some things."

" I've never seen him laugh so much." Ritsuko smiled. " He was really happy today."

" The children helped."

" Mmhmm."

" He'll have a lot of fun at the gathering."

"He doesn't have to sit through the boring parts."

" He'll be fooling around with the other children, no doubt." Chul looked at Ritsuko. " You think he's really happy?" He asked suddenly.

The phone suddenly rang.

" Ugh, don't want to get up." Ritsuko leaned back. Chul reached over and picked up the phone.

" Hello?"

" Hello, Chul-san." It was Yukito. " Just saying hello. How are you doing?"

" We're fine." Chul leaned back. At least it was not Matt. " Syaoran's sleeping right now."

" Oh?"

" The children wore him out."

" I see." Yukito sounded amused. " Tell him Sakura is angry at him and wants him to call her soon."

" I am not!" Sakura yelled from the background. " Yuki-chan! Stop twisting my words around!"

" I'll tell him." Chul smiled.

" He says he'll tell Syaoran you're angry and to call you."

" Yukito-san!!"

" Seriously, we're all wondering. Kid hasn't called us for weeks." Yukito laughed. " He hasn't forgotten us, has he?"

_Of course not. _Chul thought. The thought, however, that Syaoran did not feel the need to call them constantly made him warm inside. " It's my fault. I've been keeping him busy."

Yukito laughed. " Sounds like there's a party going on there."

" There is."

" I see. I'll leave you to it, then. Don't forget to tell Syaoran to call us!"

" Hai." Chul hung up. He leaned back.

" Who's that?" Ritsuko asked, having been focusing on another waterspeaker all this time.

" Yue. They're annoyed because Syaoran forgot them."

Ritsuko laughed. " We should remind Syaoran that. And keep in mind that he has family there too."

_Yep. _Chul thought. _But he's mine._

He should play a prank on the Japanese magicians at some point. He could talk to Syaoran about it. He had not felt this young in…he never felt this young, ever. It was very refreshin

He glanced at the stairs, grinning. _Everything will be alright._

He never had the nightmare again.


End file.
